Digimon Campaign
by icomeanon6
Summary: The climax of an ancient conflict is rapidly approaching in the Digital World, and a group of human children and teenagers find themselves thrust into it. With deception abound, they struggle to understand their role in the madness.
1. Chapter 1

**Digimon Campaign**

**Chapter 1: On the First Night: a Storm and Red Eyes**

The fierce wind blew the rain into Ross's face like an army of pins. He gritted his teeth and ignored it. He was the only one who knew the way to the cave, so losing focus now was not an option. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that the younger kids were not following as closely as they had been earlier. It occurred to him that he might be going too fast, but he had no desire to slow down. "Pick up the pace!"

Turning forward again to move on, he found himself nearly tripping over a root that was almost invisible in the rapidly diminishing daylight. He then barked at the kids, "Watch the roots up here! Keep moving!"

As he looked up the hill his group was climbing, Ross could barely make out the cave that they were to take shelter in. Though a part of him wanted to keep looking at the cave for encouragement, his sense of reason compelled him to remain alert. He tightened his grip on the knife in his hand, and listened for any nonhuman footsteps. It was not long until he heard some rustling in the underbrush. He stopped walking, faced where the noise had come from, and raised his knife in front of his face. A few seconds later a small red creature leaped straight for his neck with clear intent to kill. Ross was ready, and slashed at the base of its wing-like ear, knocking it to the ground. The children screamed at the sight of the bleeding creature, the head of which was indistinguishable from the rest of its body. Its eyes were glowing red, and gave the unmistakable impression of unchecked rage. It growled in a disturbingly child-like manner before staggering to its stub-like feet and darting back into the shadows.

Though the exchange had not been physically strenuous, the simple shock of attacking a small animal with a blade left Ross short of breath. He still pressed on, though, wiping the knife on his shirt as he went. He heard some faint whimpers coming from behind, which came as no surprise. As near as he could guess, the four children were all around nine years old, and were understandably cold and frightened. Ross was sixteen, and wished that he were as young as the others, so that he could let someone else be the responsible one. Since this was not the case, he yelled over the howling gale, "Quit thinking about it! Just follow me!"

Fortunately, the group had no further encounters with any creatures on their way to the cave. Once they passed through the entrance and left the rain behind, they found the place surprisingly warm. The fire that was waiting for them twenty yards in was emitting an unnatural amount of heat. Ross paid no mind to the abnormality, as he was only concerned with getting himself and the kids dry. After sliding his knife back into its sheath and tucking it behind his jacket he walked over to the fire, where another teenager and two smaller children were sitting. He sat down opposite the teenager and began to warm up his hands. He was soon asked, "What took you so long?"

Ross looked at the boy on the other side of the flame, and decided it would be best not to show how irked he was with the question. "These guys felt like playing hide-and-seek for some reason," he replied, gesturing to the four he had brought to the cave. The oldest looking one of them meant to say 'Did not,' but was shivering too much to form the words. They sat down near the fire as well, next to the other preteens.

The other teenager then continued. "Well, now that we've got a moment, what's your name?"

"Ross. And you?"

"Jacob Cartwright. Did you run into Joanie out there? We've got six of them here now, so that should just leave the two that she's supposed to find."

Ross shook his head, and turned around to look out the entrance of the cave. The rain was still coming down in droves, which made him wonder if the girl he had seen Jacob with earlier would be able to make it back. He had not gotten a chance to talk to her, as almost all of his time in the forest had been spent tracking down four of the pre-teens. A few more minutes passed around the fire, and the fact that his clothes dried much faster than the laws of thermodynamics should have allowed for went completely unnoticed. He was too busy worrying about how the last group was still out there after all this time. He began to stand up, but then saw three human figures coming through the entrance. They walked over, and sat down as well. The oldest of this group was Joanie, who was around the same age as Ross and Jacob. Unlike Ross and Jacob, she was not wearing a jacket, so there were some noticeable cuts on her arms from the forest.

"Sorry we took so long. Some of us were getting a little tired." It didn't seem to Ross that Joanie was tired at all beyond some expected heavy breathing. She spoke in a markedly bright tone, which he supposed might be an aspect of her personality that even fatigue couldn't dim. He stared at her arm and the scrapes on it while she continued to speak, and his eyes began to wander to other parts of her body when he realized that she was addressing him. "I forgot to ask earlier. What's your name?"

Ross recovered without stuttering. "Ross. And you're Joanie, right?"

"That's right!"

Impeccably sunny, quite the opposite of Ross's natural disposition. He returned his attention to the fire in an attempt to keep his typical teenage-male visionary habits in check. Jacob then spoke up, addressing the eight smaller children. "Seems like it's a good time for introductions. Why don't you guys tell us what your names are?"

Something about Jacob's tone got on Ross's nerves. It was upbeat in nature, but it had a vaguely annoying quality about it that Ross didn't hear in Joanie's voice. At the moment, though, Ross was more irritated with the content of Jacob's statement. All of the young ones were cold, wet, tired, and scared. Only the tallest of them responded, and even he did so with some stuttering. "M…Michael."

When no one else spoke up, Jacob was about to ask for another volunteer when Joanie spoke first. "We're all tired. How about we warm up a bit more first?"

Her voice was calm and unantagonizing. Ross took note that if he himself had said the same thing, it would have sounded far more like criticism. Jacob nodded and said, "I suppose you're right. It has been a pretty rough day so far."

One of the smaller kids then spoke up. She looked roughly ten, and wore what appeared to be a softball jersey along with her jeans and sneakers. "When can we go home?"

That left all three of the teenagers silent. Joanie and Jacob looked at each other for a few seconds, and then both turned to Ross. Ross contorted his facial expression in a manner that said, 'What makes you think _I_ would know how to answer that?' After another awkwardly silent five seconds, Jacob took it upon himself to provide what he thought was a safe enough answer. "We're safe here, so there's no hurry right now. We'll start thinking about that as soon as the rain lets up."

The girl had an immediate response for this. "What if it doesn't stop raining and it starts to flood and the water rises up to the cave and it fills it up and we can't swim out and our eyes get all bugged out like a fish's and we all drown?"

Joanie and Jacob started to laugh, and Ross had to restrain himself to keep from smiling. He had noticed what the other two hadn't: the girl was being completely serious. When this dawned on them, Jacob quickly tried to recover. "Don't worry, that's not going to happen. And if it does, you can borrow my goggles, okay? They're good for swimming."

Jacob took a pair of aquatic goggles out of his pants pocket, and showed them to the girl. To Ross's surprise, the girl smiled and chuckled a little. Joanie gave Ross a quick glance that seemed to say 'disaster averted.'

* * *

Night had fallen, and Ross was sitting at the entrance of the cave, listening for something that might come in the dark. The rain had stopped an hour ago, but all of the younger kids had fallen asleep, so there was no rush to make good on Jacob's promise to the girl. They had learned later that her name was Tatiana, which made her one of two children who hadn't been too cold or frightened to introduce themselves. Ross had more important things to worry about than how cold and frightened the children were, though.

Joanie and Jacob approached him from behind, and Jacob asked him, "Hey, can we talk?"

Ross nodded after a moment's hesitation. He knew what the subject would be, and he had wanted to avoid it for as long as he could. He stood up and turned to face the two. Joanie held a stick from the fire. With its light Ross could see that their expressions were far more somber than they had been earlier. Jacob was the first to speak. "Well, now that we're as ready as we'll ever be, I guess, why don't we get down to business?"

Ross still didn't like Jacob's tone, even if he was less cheerful than before. "I'm fine with that."

Jacob and Joanie both nodded, and then Jacob spoke again. "Though I'm sure this is a pointlessly impossible question to answer: Where in the world are we, and how did we get here?"

Ross sighed and frowned. "A forest. Anyone's guess."

Joanie rolled her eyes. "That's not helpful. Please be serious."

"I am. That's all we know."

Jacob raised his hands as if to quell any potential argument. _'He hardly needed to,'_ said Ross in his head. _'She's doesn't seem very argumentative, and I don't have anything else to say about the matter.'_

"You're both right," said Jacob. "That is about all we know right now, but if we can go over what happened to each of us individually, we might learn something more. Why don't you start, Ross?"

Ross had to concede that Jacob had a point. Some common thread in their experiences might indicate a wider phenomenon. He stared at the torch in Joanie's hand as he talked. "I was just walking around town at about six thirty, and I heard this ringing in my ears."

Jacob interrupted. "Which town?"

Ross suppressed his annoyance. "Georgetown, Washington DC. I live in Alexandria."

"What were you doing there?"

Before Ross could say "None of your damn business," Joanie elbowed Jacob and said "Just let him finish, okay?"

Ross got the feeling that Joanie meant to spare him the potential confrontation, and appreciated the gesture. "As I was saying, I heard this ringing in my ears, and it was really starting to get to me. I had to sit down on a street corner, and after a few seconds I felt the rain start falling. I looked up and I found I was sitting on a tree stump. I heard a kid scream behind me. I stood up and went to see who it was, and that's when I found all of you. And you all remember the lightning strike and that…uh…noise. And then the kids scattered, and we split up to track them down and bring them back to this cave."

After waiting a few seconds to be sure that Ross was actually done, Jacob asked him, "What about the ringing in your ear? How long did that last?"

Ross opened his mouth to respond, but then it occurred to him that he didn't rightly know. He had to retrace his steps all the way back to the beginning of the ordeal, and then the answer became clear to him. "It stopped as soon as I felt the rain." He found the thought eerily disconcerting. He then lifted his head and looked Joanie in the eyes. "What about you? What's your story?"

She shrugged. "My story's pretty similar, actually. Other than the city—Jacob and I live in Baltimore, by the way—and the street corner, it's almost verbatim. I heard the ringing while I was walking home from the library, and then I felt a raindrop. I looked up, and instead of buildings and power lines I saw trees."

Jacob's expression changed to a slight smirk. "Guess what, it's basically the same thing for me, too. Actually, get this, Joanie: I was walking over to your house at the time. Imagine that."

"No kidding."

Ross could see that Joanie was doing her best to sound interested in the coincidence, but she was simply too drained. He decided to get things moving again. "So, we've learned that we all came here in a weird, vague, instantaneous manner. What I'm more concerned with at the moment is that noise that made all the kids scatter."

Joanie shook her head. "Oh gosh, don't remind me."

Ross persisted. "It's important. What do you guys think it was?"

Jacob answered him, though his answer did little to clarify the situation for anyone or provide any comfort. "My first guess was actually dragon, but I suppose that's a pretty absurd notion. Whatever it was, it was big and angry. I'm just glad we couldn't see it. Why don't you tell us about whatever it was _you_ ran into while we were out searching?"

Ross was noticeably perplexed. He hadn't told either of them about the incidents with the wild animals. Joanie then pointed out the red stain on his t-shirt. "It's kind of hard to miss. I don't think any of the kids who weren't with you got what it was, though."

Ross then explained how he had had several brief encounters with strange, hostile, red creatures. "They were small, but just vicious. Most of them just ran off when I tried staring them down and showing my knife, but one of them tried to jump me. I kind of had to make a little mess with that one."

Joanie looked concerned. "Are you sure they won't try coming here?"

"I think they would have done so by now if they intended to, but you can't be too careful in situations like this. That's why I've been sitting over here for this long."

Jacob looked slightly less concerned, but still considerably so. "Have you heard anything?"

"Just regular forest noises. Nothing that came too near; and definitely nothing like that noise from earlier."

There was silence for the next half minute. Despite how much the three had tried to keep up appearances for the sake of the tired and frightened younger ones, they were all just as tired and frightened themselves. The question currently on all of their minds was how—and if—they could ever get home. There seemed to be a wordless understanding among them that there was nothing else to say that night, and that they would resume consulting one another in the morning. Jacob was the first to retreat to the dwindling fire and lay down near it. Joanie followed suit soon afterward. She tossed her stick back in and then sat against the wall in silence, watching the small flames dance.

Before Ross left the entrance, however, he looked outside again just for good measure. For a while, there was nothing, but then two glowing red eyes seemed to fade in from the blackness. He reached for the knife in its sheath, and let his hand linger on the handle. He stared back at the eyes, and his expression slowly changed from one of nervousness to a stern glare. For what seemed like several minutes his gaze was locked with the figureless presence beyond the entrance, until the foreign eyes faded away in the same manner they had come.

* * *

Morning came earlier than anyone wanted it to, and accompanying it were renewed and unwelcome emotions. The three youngest children were crying for their mothers until Joanie could finally console them. She had to use a number of lies in order to do so, such as "We'll get home soon," and "Don't worry, we've got everything under control." Ross watched her work and felt sorry for her, but not sorry enough to help. _'Besides,' _he thought, _'I'd probably do more harm than good. I suck with kids.'_

Jacob was stamping out the few lit embers that remained in the fire circle, as he had no water to do the job properly. When he was done, he called Ross over to the side to converse in private. "Well, as near as I can figure, our main problem right now has less to do with getting home, and more to do with getting food and water for the eleven of us."

Ross looked around at the sizable group. The logistics of the situation hadn't properly occurred to him yet. Jacob continued. "A few of us ought to go on a walk, try to find some water or preferably some people."

"That's not a bad idea. I'm guessing you have yourself in mind?"

Jacob chuckled a bit. "Yup, and I've got you in mind too. I'm thinking we want two of us older ones out searching cause, you know, buddy system. And Joanie's definitely the right one to look after all the others. She's one hell of a babysitter."

Ross couldn't imagine that any previous babysitting experience would be comparable, but he didn't see the need to argue. "Okay, so that's you and me. Should we bring one or two of the others with us to lighten Joanie's load?"

"Absolutely. I'm thinking Tatiana. She looks pretty tough to me. To be honest, I think she's also a little too discerning. She's probably caught on to the fact that we're pretty much stuck, and I don't want her to get all the other kids spooked."

Ross had to admit to himself that Jacob had thought this out quite a bit, and that he was probably right. "Sounds like a plan. We ought to set out right away. There're only so many hours in the day, and who knows how long the good weather will hold up."

Jacob smirked. "I'd say 'that's the spirit' if you weren't being such a damn pessimist."

Ross scowled, and Jacob laughed. "Lighten up, it was a joke. Let's notify all the concerned parties."

Joanie agreed with the plan, and told Jacob and Ross not to worry about a thing. Tatiana was slightly more reluctant due to an apparent lack of self-confidence, but she complied with minimal coaxing. After deciding upon a general direction to walk towards, the three of them set out. Two dozen yards down the hill, Ross turned around and saw Joanie waving goodbye to them. He waved back, and felt strangely happy about doing so.

Before long, the cave was out of sight due to the trees. The forest was dense, but without the rain and dusk it didn't seem so haunting and claustrophobic. Ross kept his eyes and ears open for the creatures that had taken such a liking to him the day before. He was glad to find no trace of them. He remained silent for most of the trip, though Tatiana and Jacob seemed to find no end of things to talk about.

"You're keeping a really nice pace, Tatiana. You done much hiking before?"

"My daddy used to take me camping a lot, but he's always real busy with work now. Sometimes the lady that does our softball team's physical training takes us out in the woods for hikes, though."

"They have physical training for kids' sports, now? When I did all that we just had practice every two days."

Tatiana grew quite cheerful over the first half mile, which was a remarkable shift from the night before. Ross and Jacob both suspected that the sun was making a difference. "Why do you carry those goggles with you, Jacob?" she asked at one point.

"Well, it's a little silly, I guess. When I used to be on swim team I would always forget them, so I started the habit of bringing them around everywhere with me, and the habit just stuck."

Tatiana then asked him with a most hopeful expression on her face, "Can I please borrow them?"

Jacob was visibly amused. "Be my guest."

Jacob took the goggles out of his pocket and tossed them over to Tatiana, who was most eager at the prospect. For some reason that Ross couldn't fathom, she seemed fascinated by the things. After shortening the strap, she tried wearing them on her forehead. She asked Jacob with much anticipation, "How do I look?"

"Very sharp. They go great with the jersey."

The first word that came to Ross's mind was actually "dorky," but to his credit he did feel terrible for it and didn't say anything. By this point they had walked two miles, and the trees were starting to thin. Before long, they were out of the forest, and in front of them lay a wide landscape dotted with small hills and partially covered by distinct clouds of fog. Ross then raised the question of the hour. "Well, we're out of the woods, so what now? We haven't found any source of water yet, so do we keep going this way or search some more in the forest?"

Jacob simply said "hmmm," and then said something that struck Ross as decidedly irresponsible. "What do you think we should do, Tatiana?"

It looked like Tatiana was simply going to balk at the prospect of contributing to an actual decision. "You want to know what I think?"

'_Way to go,'_ thought Ross. _'You had just gotten her nice and not-worried, and now you drop this on her.'_

To Ross's surprise, however, Tatiana looked into Jacob's eyes for a second or two, and then found the resolve she needed to give an answer. "I think we should keep going this way."

"Good thinking. I'm glad we brought you along."

And once again, Ross had to grudgingly give Jacob credit. Now in addition to not being worried, Tatiana was more confident, which could come in handy depending on how long they were going to be stuck here. And so they kept walking into the misty foothills, until the forest was no longer visible behind them. At one point Ross began to worry about their decision. The fog was awfully thick in spots, and he thought that if they went out much further it might become much harder to find their way back. Once they reached the bottom of the hill they were on, he spoke up. "Guys, I think we might be out far enough. This fog's pretty nasty, and we don't want to get lost."

Before Jacob or Tatiana could respond, something happened that caught them all off guard. A voice came out from behind the hill in front of them. "Hey! Who's over there?"

Stunned speechless, the three all stopped in their tracks. Had the voice been a more normal one, they might have been more enthused at the chance encounter. This voice, however, was unusually deep and distinctly inhuman. It almost sounded more like an elaborate growl than an English sentence. "I know I heard you. Speak up!"

Jacob swallowed hard and took the initiative. "W…We're three kids! We're lost, and we're trying to find some food or water!"

They then heard a second voice from behind the hill. "What'd he say?" This voice was much higher pitched, and somewhat raspy. There was a slight hint of a hiss on the s in 'say.'

"He said they're all Child level, I think. It's a strange dialect. They must not be from around here." The voice then grew louder in order to address them. "Hey! Where are you from?"

Jacob and Ross looked at each other, both having no idea of how to answer. They both had the gut feeling that naming an American city wouldn't mean anything to the people on the other side. After giving it a few moments' thought, Jacob decided to answer. "We think we're from far away, but we're not sure. There are eight more of us in the forest back there, and most of them are small and very frightened, so would you please help us find some water for them? We're in a desperate situation."

The raspy voice asked the deep one, "He said the others are small. Does that mean Child level, too?"

"It's possible, but we'd have to check to make sure."

"And what did he mean that he 'thinks' they're from far away? Are they stupid?"

"Again, it's possible. Whatever the case, they don't sound dangerous to me and we don't have anything better to do. Let's go check them out."

The three all glanced at each other, unsure of what sort of characters would be approaching them over the hill. A thick stretch of fog rolled in on their side, so they heard the footsteps before they could see who was coming. Slowly, a pair of silhouettes began to appear, and they were not of any shape they had expected to see. In a few moments, standing right before them was the largest wolf any of them had ever imagined accompanied by a smaller (but still frighteningly big), bipedal, dinosaur-like creature. Needless to say, the three all had a hard time absorbing this at first. After a few seconds of staring, the lizard was the first to speak. "They look weird."

"Don't be rude, Agumon."

Agumon was orange in color, and had the most disproportionately large mouth, presumably to match his disproportionately large claws. He held one of these claws out in front of him as he stepped forward to get a closer look at Tatiana. Ross didn't know how Tatiana could look at him straight in the eyes and not even quiver a little. _'Maybe she's paralyzed with fear. That'd be bad.'_ Agumon held his claw near Tatiana's forehead, and gave the goggles a light tap on one of the lenses. He then gave Tatiana a light tap on the arm, which did in fact make her flinch. "They're poorly armored. The things up here are solid enough, but they're too small to protect her head well, and her skin is terribly soft."

The wolf, who was white in color with a number of blue stripes, spoke next. "You must excuse my friend here. He isn't good around strangers. My name is Garurumon. And what is your name?"

Ross was starting to break into a nervous sweat. "Which one of us are you asking?"

Garurumon raised an eyebrow. "All of you. You are of the same species, are you not? What name do you three go by?"

Ross could not imagine a more confusing response to his question. Still, he tried to answer as best as he could. "Well…we're humans. The thing is, though, we each have different names. I'm Ross."

"I'm Jacob. And this is Tatiana."

This only added to the two strangers' confusion. Agumon said to Garurumon, "I take it back. I don't think they're stupid. They're just insane."

Garurumon let out a low growl. "I said _don't be rude_. Obviously, they're from far enough away that our rules don't apply to them. Perhaps the captain would know something more about their background."

"That didn't even occur to me. You're so smart, Garurumon."

"Oh, not really. You're just under-evolved."

Ross couldn't see why Agumon didn't take this statement as any sort of insult, but he decided that for now it would be best not to ask. Garurumon then addressed the three befuddled humans. "At any rate, you're welcome to follow us back to the camp. There's plenty of extra room for your friends, and I'm sure we can work out some sort of arrangement with the captain so you can stay."

Jacob lit up at hearing this. "That'd be terrific. We'd be most appreciative. Could we go back to our friends, first? They'll start to wonder why we're taking so long."

"Don't worry about that. We'll send out a scout to fetch your friends later. They should be easy to track down once we know their general area."

Ross wasn't sure whether to find this fact convenient or worrying. For now, though, he was happy to have arranged for the group in the cave to be relocated somewhere safer. The three humans and the two anthropomorphic creatures started making their way further into the foothills, and for the first time in over twelve hours Ross felt slightly optimistic about how things were going.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Camp, and a Long Walk Ahead**

Before an hour had passed, the three humans and their unusual companions came across a large hill. The top was obscured by fog, but halfway up Ross could see two rows of wooden spikes jutting out in a manner that set his hair on end. There was a narrow gap where a few spikes had been removed and set aside, presumably to be replaced when the need arose. As Garurumon and Agumon headed for this gap, Tatiana stopped. She asked a question with voice wavering. "W…what are those things for?"

Agumon turned around. "They keep the baddies out. Don't you know there's a war going on?"

Tatiana had not known, and took a step backwards. Jacob said to her, "Come on, there's nothing to worry about." As he said this, Tatiana's expression relaxed, and she caught up with the rest of the group. They passed through the gap and came to the top of the hill. All around were several small clusters of beige tents. There were a few faint sounds of activity from within some of the shelters, but otherwise the place seemed dead. Garurumon made a deep, slightly disapproving noise in the back of his throat. "Home sweet home."

Something about the whole setup went against Ross's grain, and he shuddered. He looked over at Tatiana, and saw that she was keeping awfully close to Jacob, who was looking about as if he wanted to memorize every detail of the camp. Agumon then motioned the three of them to follow, and they walked to the largest of the tents, on which were inscribed some rough, incomprehensible ink letters. _'It looks kind of like Chinese or Japanese, but not quite,'_ thought Ross._ 'Maybe I should ask later. Then again, I might not get any kind of meaningful answer.'_

Before passing through the entry flap, Garurumon paused and said to the three humans, "I would advise you to be careful with your words. Things have been a little tense around here as of late."

The three followed Garurumon through the entrance, and saw something that they did not expect. Sitting on a stool in front of them was a tall, man-like figure with six white wings. His eyes were covered by the steel helmet he wore, which was adorned with a cross. Ross couldn't help but stare, especially at the light the man—or creature?—seemed to emit. Garurumon bowed his head slightly and said, "Captain Angemon, we have brought back three wanderers from the hills. They say there are more of them in the woods, and that they wish to seek refuge here."

Angemon was motionless, but somehow Ross got the feeling that he was examining the three of them closely. After a few seconds of pondering, he answered Garurumon. "You bring with you unexpected but most welcome guests indeed, Garurumon." His voice was strong and firm, but strangely soothing. He gave off the aura of a soldier; a powerful guardian whose mere presence brought safety to those who were lucky enough to be on his side. "I suppose you have noticed that their attributes are indiscernible, which in my mind makes them all the more welcome."

Ross didn't know what to make of this statement. He looked over at Jacob, who was more collected but no less confused. Angemon's head remained still; he faced no one in particular, but when he resumed speaking Ross could tell that he was addressing Jacob in particular. "Pardon me if I'm completely off base, but I have a feeling that although you three are clearly alike, you each answer to a different name. Am I correct?"

Garurumon's ears rose a few inches, and his voice did little to hide his surprise. "You could tell, sir?"

Ross glanced over to Garurumon, but he became suddenly aware of a faint presence. It was as if someone was tapping him on the shoulder, though he felt nothing there. He looked again to Angemon, and in an instant the presence grew strong and seemed to force the words right out of his mouth. "Ross! Uh…Ross, sir. My name's Ross."

The presence vanished, leaving Ross red in the face. Angemon didn't seem to take any offense at his slightly embarrassing outburst, however. As for Jacob and Tatiana, they didn't seem to notice it at all. "I'm Jacob, sir."

And then there came a meek voice that wanted to hide back inside its mouth. "Tatiana."

Angemon nodded. "Intriguing names, all. They sound almost as ordinary words. Most unorthodox."

At hearing the word 'unorthodox,' Ross began to suspect that everyone around here had a name that ended with '-mon.'

"But I forget my manners. It is plain to see that you are tired and hungry. You may take as much as you like from the mess tent. Garurumon, show them the way, if you'd please. I shall have a messenger sent for their companions at once."

Jacob answered as earnestly as he could. "You are too kind. Our friends are hiding in a cave. I think we walked about four miles to get here. Thank you very much, sir."

Ross followed suit, saying "Yes. Thank you, sir," and Tatiana nodded her head slightly.

Angemon nodded back to her and said, "Good day, you three." As they all turned to leave, Angemon spoke once more. "Agumon, would you stay a minute, please?"

* * *

Jacob, Ross, and Tatiana were sitting on a log outside of the mess tent, each holding a bowl of a bland yet hardy grain dish. Ross didn't think it was rice. Perhaps it was barley? Millet? None of them could say, but they were more than happy to finally sit down with something hot to eat. Garurumon asked them, "Is the food to your liking?"

Ross looked over at Garurumon, and wondered if he normally ate the same thing that they were eating. Considering Garurumon's size, he would certainly prefer a larger bowl, and probably wouldn't use the chopsticks—the only utensils they could find—either. Jacob answered, "It's great. Thanks again." Jacob then noticed that Tatiana was struggling with her chopstick technique. He whispered to her, "Hold them more like a pencil—there you go."

As Ross continued eating, he noticed that the fog on the western edge of the hill was beginning to thin out. The now visible landscape consisted of rolling hills that grew into distant mountains to the right, and became covered with a dense forest to the far left. This was nothing out of the ordinary, but something else about the scenery caught Ross's eye. There were three small but prominent craters among some of the closer hills. They had no grass growing on them, and the dirt was dark, nearly black. Ross supposed this had something to do with the war that Agumon had mentioned. Ross wondered about this war. Who or what do wolves, dinosaurs, and angels fight against? And as long as Ross was asking himself impossible questions, just what in the hell were these creatures, anyway? As he wondered this, Agumon came walking over from their right.

"Agumon's back," said Jacob to Garurumon, who was staring at the ground.

Garurumon looked up, and promptly shook his head. "Different Agumon."

As this new Agumon walked past them and into the mess tent, he said, "Hi, Garurumon."

To Ross's ears, this Agumon's voice was indistinguishable from the one they had first met. Garurumon answered in kind. "Hello, Agumon."

Ross tried to wrap his head around this: These two creatures looked identical, sounded identical, both answered to 'Agumon,' didn't seem to have any other kind of name, and Garurumon regarded them as differently as one regards two different people. Ross wondered how many Agumons there were, and whether or not any of them suffered from identity crisis. It was then that another Agumon came walking over from their right. Before anyone could ask, Garurumon said, "Yes, this one's ours."

Agumon sat down on the ground next to Tatiana, who still couldn't help but stare at him. "Of course I am. Who else would I be?"

"Any other Agumon, it would seem," answered Garurumon. "Our new friends have trouble with recognition."

"Not even surprised. These new friends are weird, weird, weird."

Tatiana giggled a little, and Agumon smiled. Ross would have been more than happy to leave any discussion of their differences at that. They may have been confused, but they were on good terms with their potentially dangerous hosts. Ross suspected that further talk might reveal differences that would lead to animosity, which they couldn't risk. Especially dangerous in Ross's mind would be any mention of—

"So, could you tell us more about this war?" asked Jacob.

Ross wanted to punch him. He was just as curious as Jacob was, but in his experience talking about wars led to heated disagreement, which he certainly didn't want at the moment. Fortunately, Garurumon didn't seem at all affected by the question. "What do you want to know?"

Ross hoped that Jacob would simply say 'Never mind,' but he had no such luck.

"The basics, I guess. Who are 'they,' who are 'we,' and what are we fighting over?"

Ross thought that saying 'we' the second time made the three of them sound much too involved. Garurumon let out a low sigh. "I was wondering when one of you would ask, and I must admit I'm not sure how to answer. You are all ignorant of much that we have always taken for granted as basic reality. I suppose I'll start with as basic an explanation as I can think of."

"I would greatly appreciate it, and I must apologize for our ignorance."

Garurumon shook his head. "There's no need. On the contrary, you should say 'You're welcome.' This is the most interesting day I've had in quite a while."

Agumon interjected, "Oh, this day'll get even better, but go on."

Ross couldn't help but notice a hint of frustration in Agumon's jest. He wondered what it meant, and just what Agumon had been talking about with Angemon.

Garurumon continued speaking. "We are the Vaccine. We are one of the three basic branches of intelligent life. Since even before the dawn of Knowing, we have existed alongside the Data and the Virus."

Data. Virus. Though the temptation was great, Ross did not ask Garurumon if he knew anything about computers. He was relieved when Jacob did not do so either, and simply said, "Got it."

"Three years ago, the Virus grew angry with the status quo, which if you ask me is an inexcusably common development for them throughout history. They were once again organized into a formidable army, and we have been fending them off since then. If our army of the Vaccine fails they will overrun our lands, wipe our kind from existence, and obtain control of all life."

The first thought that came to Ross's mind was, _'Oh, man. We've stumbled into a genocidal conflict.'_ If Jacob found this situation worrisome, he showed no sign of it, and questioned Garurumon further. "What about the 'Data?' Can they do anything to help defend against the Virus?"

Garurumon sighed a second time. "Though the Data are greatest in number of all the branches, they lack the leadership and collective will to fight as one. On top of that, they are mentally ill-suited to fight the Virus in particular."

Ross hoped with his entire being that the other two wouldn't call Garurumon's last statement—

Tatiana asked, "Isn't that racist?"

Ross tensed up, and began to sweat. Even Jacob looked a little nervous in response to Tatiana's potentially disastrous question. It was an immense relief when Garurumon answered, "I'm not familiar with the term, but trust me when I say that it is fact. All other qualities being equal, one of the Data will usually fall to one of the Virus."

Tatiana was about to speak again, but Jacob put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Let's take his word for it. This is his home, not ours."

Tatiana hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. Garurumon nodded back, and then said, "That about sums it up, I think. I hope I've done an adequate job; it's not something anyone usually has to explain."

Ross seized this opportunity to change the subject. "You did fine, thanks. We've got the picture." Looking off into the west, which was again growing covered with fog, he continued. "I wonder how long until the others get here."

* * *

It was getting dark when the nine figures walked in cautious fashion up the hill. Leading the way was a three and a half foot tall, pink-feathered avian. Of the creatures that Ross had seen so far, he considered this one to be the strangest. It looked almost like a child in a bird costume, as it stood perfectly upright and its wings seemed to be just as similar to arms as actual wings. He found it slightly unsettling when it jumped up and flapped its 'wings' a few times to bring itself to the very top, where it gave a small bow to Garurumon. "All have arrived safely, sir."

"Thank you, Biyomon. Show the little ones to the mess tent; they must be hungry."

"Yes, sir."

It was then that the first of the eight humans came into proper view. Garurumon looked at her and asked Jacob, "Is this the 'Joanie' you mentioned?"

Jacob smiled and nodded. "Yup, that's her."

Joanie let out a light sigh, and smiled in kind. "I am _so_ glad to see you guys here." Her eyes were then drawn to Garurumon, but she did not seem particularly surprised, which Ross had not expected. "Are you Garurumon, sir?"

Garurumon nodded. "Yes, indeed. And you needn't call me 'sir.' Biyomon is more formal than is warranted. If you don't mind, our captain would like to see you along with your two friends, here."

The seven children were now all assembled behind Joanie, and they for the most part looked far more optimistic than they had been when Jacob and company had departed. The oldest of them, whom Ross remembered as Michael from the night before, looked particularly interested in Garurumon.

Biyomon addressed the crowd, "Follow me, there's good food this way!"

Joanie walked up to Biyomon and extended her hand. Biyomon returned the gesture with the three large claws at the end of her right arm/wing, and the two of them shook appendage-ends. "Thanks for everything, Biyomon!"

"No problem. You were fun to talk to!"

As Biyomon walked off, most of the children did as well. The three exceptions were Michael, a younger boy, and Tatiana. Joanie turned and said to the two boys, "Go on, Michael, Steven, I won't be too long."

Steven, who seemed to be simply anxious about leaving Joanie, nodded and followed the other children. Michael, on the other hand, stood his ground and said "I want to see the captain, too."

There was now little fear and fatigue in Michael's eyes. His tone of voice wasn't what anyone would call steadfast, but it was markedly more resolute than it had been the night before. Garurumon looked straight into his eyes, and took a few steps forward. Michael took a sharp breath through his nose, and his eyes wavered a little, but he seemed otherwise unaffected by Garurumon's intimidating gaze. Garurumon made a noise in his throat, as if suspicious. "Hmmmm."

At this point, Tatiana spoke up as well. "Me too. I've already eaten, anyway."

Garurumon made a quick glance back at Tatiana, and then said, "Very well. Follow me."

Michael's face broke into a wide grin. Garurumon turned and began walking toward the main tent and the two children followed him closely, with the three teenagers trailing several yards behind. Jacob was the first to speak. "Well, it looks like we're all safe and sound."

Joanie let out a deep breath. "Yeah. It's so lucky that you guys stumbled across this place. I was worried you might get lost; then we'd _really _be in a tight spot."

Ross concurred with a simple "Mm-hm," and Jacob responded in a more verbose fashion. "You can thank Tatiana for that. She's the one who picked the right direction."

"And you guys should thank Biyomon later. Once she showed up she was great with helping all the kids feel safe. Actually, I think she earned their trust even faster than she earned mine. And she just loves to talk about everything! I wouldn't be surprised if we know more about this place than you do."

Ross asked, "Did she tell you about the captain, already?"

"Yeah, Angemon," Joanie replied. Then she laughed a little. "It's funny, Biyomon described him like this: 'he looks like you all, but bigger, stronger, and well-armored. Oh, and he has six wings on his back!'"

Jacob snorted. Ross didn't think it was particularly funny, and supposed he just wasn't in the mood. The three of them looked ahead at Tatiana and Michael. They seemed to be engrossed in conversation with Garurumon. Michael in particular appeared most attentive to what Garurumon was saying. Jacob said, "I think Michael there might have felt cheated when we left this morning. Maybe we should have brought him."

Ross nodded. "I think you're right. Is he the oldest out of the kids?"

Joanie nodded. "Yeah. We all said names and ages earlier and he's eleven, the only one who's over nine. Oh, wait. Do you know how old Tatiana is?"

Ross shook his head. "Never asked. We could ask later."

Jacob was not interested in waiting, and called out to her. "Hey, Tatiana! How old are you?"

Tatiana turned her head and called back. "Ten!"

Jacob spoke in normal voice again. "That settles that."

Garurumon and the kids had now reached the tent, and waited a few seconds for the teenagers to catch up. They all entered together, and Ross still couldn't help but find Angemon's presence slightly unsettling. Angemon was sitting and facing the ground, apparently lost in thought. Garurumon was the first to speak. "Captain Angemon, they have arrived."

Angemon was unresponsive for a second, but then turned his head upward and smiled. He stood and spoke. "Indeed they have. You must be Joanie."

Joanie bore a slight smile, but a subtle contortion of her eyebrows and a subtler haltingness in her voice betrayed that she hadn't been fully prepared for the sight of Angemon. "Yes, sir. It was too kind of you to have us."

Angemon chuckled at the notion. "Not at all, I assure you." He then turned his invisible attention to Michael, whose mouth was already agape and now took a step backwards. "And what is your name, little one?"

"M…Michael. It's Michael, sir."

Angemon nodded. "That's a good name. It strikes me as a name of inner fortitude, and of a strong sense of right."

Michael's expression softened, and he took a step forward. "My parents said they named me after St. Michael. He was an…an angel, like you."

Michael's face began to turn red, but then Angemon spoke again. "I can't say I quite understand the story, but now I'm sure that the name is a perfect fit."

Upon hearing this, Michael practically beamed, and Ross could swear that some of Angemon's glow was sharing space with the boy, if only for a moment. And it was a scant few moments later that Angemon moved on from introductions to more pressing matters. "Now that we're all acquainted, let us get to the issue at hand."

The air hung still for a moment, and then Angemon spoke again. "In exchange for our continued hospitality, you three large ones must serve us as spies. You shall infiltrate the enemy encampment, and report back on their intended movements."

Ross's jaw dropped, and the other four were speechless. Garurumon was the first to speak up. "I must object, Captain Angemon. This is far too much trust to place in strangers, and I personally doubt their qualifications for the mission."

'_Yes, that's it. We are not qualified. At all.'_ is what passed through Ross's mind, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. Angemon, however, was unperturbed by Garurumon's claim. "Of course, I value your council, Garurumon. Nevertheless, not only do I believe that we can trust these individuals, I also believe that they are _uniquely _qualified for the mission."

'_You're wrong. You're insane. This is bad. We have to leave.'_ Ross did not interrupt, and Angemon continued. "Garurumon, you first became aware of Jacob, Ross, and Tatiana when you heard them speaking, correct?"

"Yes, but…"

"With anyone else, you would have known they were nearby from four hills away, correct?"

"Undoubtedly. All of my concentration was devoted to locating enemies."

"This is precisely why they are qualified. Their presence cannot be felt from afar, and even when they are in the same room their attributes are hidden. They will be invisible in a way that none of us ever could be."

Jacob finally interrupted. "Sorry, but you mentioned 'attributes' earlier and I never asked what…er…"

Angemon chuckled. "Hearing this, I am now even more certain that you have no attributes to speak of. You are not Data, Virus, nor Vaccine. Garurumon, these beings come from the Holy World. They are of the mighty race of Creators, and they have been sent to help heal Creation."

Ross could no longer remain silent, and stepped forward. "C…Captain Angemon, I'm afraid you're mistaken. We're not 'Creators,' we're just ordinary people. Human beings, that's it. We're not mighty; we're weak, lost, and confused. We don't know why we're here, and no one sent us, we just showed up."

Joanie stepped forward as well. "He's right, sir. We're not Creators; we're Created, just like you."

Angemon smiled. "Trivialities. Nowhere is it written that those who created us knew that they were creating. Nor is it written that they were the ultimate Creators themselves. Moreover, I said that you were sent with a purpose, not that you were fully informed and prepared beforehand."

Ross made some vague noises of objection, and turned to Garurumon. Garurumon looked back at him, and his eyes seemed both heavy and ponderous. Garurumon then turned back to Angemon and said, "If you are so sure of this, Captain, then I am as well. They are more than suited to carry out the task."

"If that's all true," they heard Agumon say as he walked into the tent, "then we've been blessed. We can't lose!"

Ross was petrified that Angemon would agree with this sentiment, but fortunately the captain shook his head. "It is written that perfect justice will come at the end of time, but until then there are no guarantees. It would be equally foolish to grow overconfident as it would be to discount the significance of our guests."

Ross was beginning to sweat. Angemon was apparently less of a fool than Agumon, but he and his companions were nowhere near off the hook. He didn't know what else to say, but Jacob decided to give it a shot. "Let's suppose that you're right, sir, and we were sent here to help you. Even if we were to sneak up close to their base without them 'feeling' or smelling us or something, we're not experts at espionage by any stretch. We can't sneak around in their camp without them noticing us, and since we don't know a thing about them other than that they're 'Virus' I doubt we can get them to trust us."

Much to all of their consternation, Angemon continued to smile. "Most astute, Jacob, and I would have to agree with you were it not for one other factor. You won't be going alone; there is one other who is especially qualified for this sort of mission."

Hearing this, Agumon's eyes narrowed, and a few wafts of smoke rose from his nostrils. In response, Angemon's smile vanished and everyone in the room could feel their bodies grow slightly heavier. "You promised me decorum, Agumon, and I expect you to honor that."

Agumon stared at his feet. "Yes, sir."

Angemon turned to the rear entrance of the tent. "You may enter."

This new individual had apparently been waiting for a signal. He parted the tent flap with his three long claws and revealed himself. He was identical to Agumon except for one key detail: his skin was not orange, but rather black as pitch. Angemon introduced him as he approached the center of the tent. "This is BlackAgumon. He is a Virus type who has more than earned my trust and is under my personal protection. BlackAgumon, these are Jacob, Joanie, Ross, Tatiana, and Michael of the Holy World. You will be working with the large ones, contingent on their agreement."

BlackAgumon had a grim expression, and there seemed to be some gravel in his throat. "My pleasure."

With a glare and a few shots of even darker smoke from his nostrils, Agumon stomped heavily from the tent. Tatiana followed him after taking one more look at Angemon and BlackAgumon. Ross would have liked to join her, but he couldn't just leave without giving a final answer to Angemon. Then again, how could he possibly give an answer that Angemon would approve of? They couldn't afford to get involved in this race war, especially not when that would entail working as spies. But there was also the matter that they couldn't afford to get kicked back out into the wilderness. Would Angemon force them to leave if they said no, small children and all?

As bad scenarios fired through his mind, he suddenly felt that uncanny pressure from Angemon, this time stronger than ever before. He then heard the captain's voice, though his lips did not move. _"I cannot have my subordinates hear me say this, human beings, but I only ask for your help because we are desperate. We cannot face the challenges before us without more information, and it is too dangerous to send BlackAgumon alone. Our lives may depend on your answer. So I beg you, please help us."_

Ross's heart rate was spiking. He glanced quickly at his companions, and he got the feeling that they too heard Angemon's plea. On top of that, it seemed that Michael's eyes were welling up with tears. Jacob and Joanie glanced at each other, and then at Ross. All it took was for Jacob to nod his head slightly and Ross felt that the group had reached a consensus. The three of them turned again to Angemon and Jacob gave the official reply. "All right. We'll do it."

Angemon did not smile, but simply nodded and sat on his stool. His head dropped and it was clear to all that his invisible attention had returned to his own mind. As Angemon entered a deep trance, BlackAgumon began walking back the way he came. "Marvelous. It's a long walk tomorrow, so don't stay up late."

* * *

It was the middle of the night, and Ross was standing at the edge of the hilltop, some seven feet above the spiked barricade. All around him was perfect silence. Ross had expected at least some insects to be making noise, but there were none that he could hear. He stared at the cloudless, moonless, star-filled sky for three solid minutes before he heard anything. What he heard were footsteps, and since they were far softer than the thuds that came from Agumon and Garurumon's feet, he figured they were human. He kept looking up, and soon he heard a girl's voice.

"Is that you, Ross?"

The voice was Joanie's. He turned to face her, and he could half discern her silhouette, but nothing beyond that. "Yeah."

"Can't sleep either?" Joanie sounded weary, but not physically exhausted.

"Nope."

Half a minute of silence passed. Ross couldn't tell if Joanie found the silence awkward or not. There were no visual cues to pick up. He wanted to know whether she was looking at the stars or at him, whether she had come out because she couldn't sleep or because she noticed he was missing. If he had her figured out correctly, she was the sort who upon waking in the middle of the night would take a silent headcount just to make sure everyone was safe. But how could he tell? They had only met the evening before.

His train of thought was interrupted when Joanie spoke again. "I think Tatiana and Michael will do a good job of looking out for the younger ones while we're gone."

"Yeah."

Just as Ross was thinking to himself that he wasn't saying enough, and that he ought to extend his reply so it wouldn't sound like he was brushing her off, Joanie said, "That's a lot of one word responses."

'_Damn. Too slow.'_ Ross rubbed his eyes and said, "Sorry. It's just…well…rough day, you know."

Joanie made a half-chuckle, just enough to indicate to Ross that she wasn't bitter about the lousy conversation he made. He then continued. "It's a good thing you're here. Jacob and I wouldn't have been able to take care of all those kids by ourselves."

"Thanks. It's nice of you to say that."

Another half minute of silence passed. By this point enough had been said that Ross was sure that she had more that she wanted to talk about but just wasn't getting to. He was looking at the sky again, trying to find the North Star when Joanie sprang a new question on him. "Ross, why do you think we're here?"

Ross swallowed. Her voice had a palpable sense of foreboding about it. As for the question, he had absolutely no idea, and trying to think about it just made him frustrated. He spent enough time not answering that Joanie got the gist, and resumed speaking. "I'm mostly blank on ideas, too. But I can't help but think about what Angemon was saying earlier. I mean, the idea that we're any kind of 'Creators' is a bit ridiculous, but…"

She trailed off. Ross wondered what she was getting at. "Yes?"

"But what if he's half right? What if God sent us here for some real purpose?"

"Don't tell me you buy into that crap." The words came out of Ross's mouth before he had a real chance to think about them.

"What crap? Belief in God?"

Ross felt himself the biggest moron on the face of the Earth. How could he not have picked up the earnestness in her voice when she said that? He did his best to recover. "No! No, not belief in god itself. Just, you know, that kind of _active_ god. I just think it's kind of a stretch of an explanation."

Joanie was not convinced. "You can tell me the truth. You don't believe in God and you think it's dumb for other people to believe in God, right?"

She did not sound happy with him, and that made Ross cringe. "Uh…well…Right. But I didn't mean it to come out that…I didn't mean it that way. So…I take it you're Christian?"

"Yes. Catholic."

Ross sat down and pressed his hand to his forehead. "Really, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call you stupid. And I don't think you're stupid!"

Joanie sat down next to him, but she still sounded kind of annoyed with him. "I understand. It's the same with everyone. We always view people themselves and their ideas separately."

There was something about Joanie. Ross had been in countless exchanges that started the same way as this one and simply ended in angry arguments over whether the idea of God was bunk or not. "Go on with what you were saying earlier; about god sending us here and all. I shouldn't have shot you down like that."

"Well, I don't want to—"

"Please." Ross could tell that she was going to change the subject to avoid offending him, and he couldn't stand the condescension implicit in that. When Joanie spoke again, she slowly lost the defensiveness in her voice, and in its place came the foreboding that was present before Ross's boneheaded comment.

"Think about all that we've seen here, I guess; all these big, strange, talking animals and the Captain and everything. It's all too improbable. I'm sure it's real because there's no way I or any of us could have dreamed this up. And us being here, it's just not something that happens naturally or by dumb luck. Why are we all from roughly the same part of the United States of all countries? Heck, Jacob and I have known each other since we were six, why the two of us out of all people? I've just never bought into ridiculous coincidences like that. I have to believe there's a reason. I just wish I knew what it was."

Ross had been listening intently, and for once he was ready with something to say. "I guess part of my problem with that is that I don't see why this isn't all just a dream. Just because I can't think of where all the elements came from doesn't mean they weren't in the back of my mind somewhere."

"Yet you're still acting as if it's all real."

"I don't think I can help that."

"Hmm." Ross supposed that she did actually have something to say to that along the lines of the existence of free will, but he didn't want to open _another_ can of worms.

"And the other problem I have is the whole idea of god, I guess. You talk about how you don't buy into ridiculous improbabilities, but to me that's what god is. God's supposedly some perfect, omniscient creator who somehow cares about one random species on one planet out of billions or trillions or whatever. If I had to bet money, I'd say it's more likely that I'm just dreaming."

Joanie wasted no time in answering either. "But again, you don't _believe_ you're dreaming, do you? You believe that this place is real…that _I'm_ real, right?"

The word 'believe' always came across as somewhat grating to Ross's sensibilities. He much preferred the word 'think.' He couldn't stand spirituality—much less religion—but he understood the nuances of the word 'believe.' Screw proof, screw reason, just go with what your touchy-feely heart-of-hearts shouts at you, and he thought that was stupid and dangerous. But for whatever reason he didn't let it get to him that night. "Yes. I do. It's all too lucid. There's no way I can possibly believe otherwise."

"So how does this place exist and why are we here?"

Ross was growing more agitated, and his bitterness at their whole situation harshened his tone. "I don't know. That's why I'm scared."

That stopped the conversation cold. There would be no more discussion and no more communication of any kind except for 'goodnight' and 'goodnight' when they returned to the others, hopefully to go back to sleep. For the time being, they both knew that they had to set aside their thoughts on the situation from a cosmic sense and focus on what was immediate. They had a long walk ahead of them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: A Long Walk, and Rumors of the Commander**

The sun was still down, but there was light enough to see. Jacob, Ross, Joanie, and BlackAgumon were gathered near the western edge of the hill. The humans would have liked to have spent more time in the camp and out of danger, but as BlackAgumon reminded them as they packed, "Time's of the essence."

Ross rubbed his eyes. He had managed only five hours of sleep the night before, and now he had to walk back the way he had come. He looked at Jacob, who seemed wide awake and practically raring to go, and then at Joanie, who couldn't have gotten much sleep either but still looked far more awake than he felt. She asked BlackAgumon, "Do you need a blanket? One of us can carry it for you."

BlackAgumon shook his head. "Don't bother. Just hurry up."

Jacob, who was in the middle of tying a square knot, said, "No worries. We'll be done in a second."

BlackAgumon was perhaps as irritated with Jacob's morning-chipper-ness as Ross was. He snorted and began to pace back and forth. Still, Jacob was right in that the humans had little to pack. Several loaves of bread, four skins of water, and three blankets constituted the inventory. The only reason things were taking longer than a minute was that Jacob had insisted they should tie the blankets with string after bundling the food in them. Once the bundles were tied and slung over the humans' backs with cord, Jacob said to BlackAgumon, "All right then. Lead the way."

Joanie looked back toward the tents and then tapped Jacob on the shoulder. "Hold on."

Tatiana, Michael, and Garurumon were walking toward them. BlackAgumon looked to the cloudy sky and groaned. "You said your goodbyes last night. Let's move."

"One minute tops, promise," said Jacob before he headed over to meet the three with Ross and Joanie following him. "We've got to go real soon, guys. Don't worry; you'll be fine without us. Just—."

Tatiana interrupted him. "What are you talking about? Of course we'll be fine. We're worried about _you_."

Ross, whose eyes were half closed, said, "She's smart. Let's switch her for Jacob."

The other humans laughed, Garurumon chuckled, and BlackAgumon was stone-faced. Jacob, fully aware of BlackAgumon's impatience, got the discussion back on track. "Just do what Angemon and Garurumon tell you to, and watch out for the younger ones."

Joanie added, "And make sure none of you leave the camp. Got that?"

Michael nodded. "We got it. We're going to be fine."

Jacob nodded back. "We'll be back in four days. See you soon."

Jacob shook hands with Michael, and then with Tatiana. He then turned to Garurumon, who made a polite bow. "I patrol the hills twice a day, but whenever I'm around I'll keep an eye on your friends, and Agumon will too. You have my word."

The three teenagers bowed back. "Thanks, Garurumon," said Ross. He then glanced over at BlackAgumon, who was fuming in a literal sense. "Guys, we really have to get going now."

With that the talking ceased, save for a few understated goodbyes. The three teenagers left their two seconds in command with Garurumon, and followed BlackAgumon down the hill, past the barricade, and into the fog. Less than a minute later, Ross looked over his shoulder and could spot no sign of the camp.

They had been walking over the hills for about twenty minutes when Ross spotted to their right a crater similar to the ones he had seen the day before. It was approximately ten feet in diameter, and a few short blades of grass were coming up near its edge but the center was completely barren. Ross wondered by what means these craters were made when he saw that he was starting to lag behind. He then shifted the weight of his pack and picked up the pace.

As Ross caught up, Jacob tried to start some conversation with BlackAgumon, which Ross thought was an ill-considered but not unexpected venture. "Hey, BlackAgumon. How long do you think it is until sunrise?"

BlackAgumon, who was walking a good eight feet ahead of Jacob and Joanie, did not answer. Ross thought this was just as well, as BlackAgumon was their only lifeline in the wilderness, and he worried that a conversation that went in the wrong direction could jeopardize that. He couldn't figure out Jacob's apparent need to sacrifice the status quo for the sake of having something to talk about, and Jacob's next statement did not put his mind at ease. "Not feeling very talkative, huh?"

BlackAgumon snorted. "Just wondering why the alleged race of Creators would send help to a bunch of scumbags like Angemon and his scumbag army."

Ross nearly had a heart attack. He immediately decided that he wouldn't let Jacob make the situation any more caustic, and whispered, "Don't bother him. He's not in the mood."

Jacob whispered back, "No chance. We've got a long way to go with this guy. I want to make sure we're all on good terms."

Joanie joined in the whispering. "Guys, I think he might be able to hear you."

Fortunately, she was only half right. "What are you whispering about back there? Don't trust me now?"

Before Ross could say anything, Jacob answered BlackAgumon. "We're not sure whether we trust youyet, or Angemon for that matter. We just got here, and we're only doing this to keep our friends safe."

'_The more we talk about motivation, the closer we get to losing our guide,'_ thought Ross, who followed Jacob's answer with an attempt to stop the conversation cold. "We don't want to bother you. We can keep quiet if you want."

BlackAgumon spat. "Pathetic." All three humans grew anxious. "You think I'm a moron? I saw the way Angemon had you suckered in with his talk. You two snakes are just trying to keep me from ditching you in the woods, and you're tripping over each other in the process."

Ross and Jacob looked at each other, disappointed that they had both been found out so quickly. Fortunately, Joanie was ready to take over for them. "You got us. We're sorry we doubted you, but…"

BlackAgumon's tone was growing harsher. "But what?"

"…But we really trust Agumon, and it seems like you two have some issues to work out."

BlackAgumon spat again, but this time instead of saliva there came a quick burst of flame that blackened the grass. At the sight of this the three humans stopped in their tracks, and Ross especially was worried that they had gone and done it. BlackAgumon then turned around and began to approach them, and as he spoke little tongues of fire could be seen at the corners of his mouth. "Don't you _dare_ mention that orange slow-mute's name to me again! I've had it up to here with your ignorant, two-faced prattle! You don't know a damned thing about those Vaccine thugs, so don't talk like they're your best friends in front of me or I'll roast your hides and cut them from your bodies! I shou—"

For a few moments toward the end of BlackAgumon's tirade, it appeared that his green eyes were growing red around the edges. All of a sudden he choked on his words and his eyes grew wide. He was breathing heavily, but a few seconds later he was composed.

It had all happened so fast that it was just now sinking in to Ross how frightened he had been at the sight of BlackAgumon's anger. He glanced over at Jacob and Joanie, and he saw that they too had been terrified. When BlackAgumon spoke again, the violence in his voice had been replaced by a palpable meekness. "Let's keep moving. We've got a long way to go."

BlackAgumon turned around started walking up a large hill. Somewhat reluctantly, Joanie began to follow, and she was soon followed by Jacob and Ross. There was silence for about a minute until BlackAgumon said, "I apologize. That was inexcusable of me."

It appeared that only Joanie had the courage to reply. "It's fine. Everyone loses their cool now and then."

Her voice did not waver in the slightest, but Ross could see on her face that she was hardly at ease. He crossed his fingers that she would be able to dig them out of the hole that he and Jacob had dug. It seemed to be working, as BlackAgumon remained calm. "Maybe where you come from some rules apply to everyone, but that's just not the case here."

When they reached the top of the hill, BlackAgumon stopped again. He looked over his right shoulder, and his eyes grew narrow, but not exactly angry. Ross looked where BlackAgumon seemed to be looking, but there was nothing but a few hills and fog. BlackAgumon made a low growl in his throat and spoke again. "I ought to explain where I stand, just so we all know."

BlackAgumon pointed off into the distance. "There. North-east. You can't see it right now because of the fog, but in the middle of the mountain range some tens of miles off is the Forbidden City."

Jacob looked intently into the fog, as if he expected to gaze upon the city itself. "We've never heard of it."

"I'm not surprised Angemon wouldn't tell you about it. The Vaccine also call it the 'Holy City,' which is an utter farce. It's where their damned aristocrats have the greater part of the world's wealth holed up, and no one can pass the mountains to enter it."

Jacob stroked his chin. "What about Biyomon, the one who picked up Joanie and our friends at the cave? She can fly. Are the mountains too high or something?"

"No, they're not _that_ high, but they have something worse. An impenetrable force surrounds the City, like an eternal storm. No one alive today is evolved enough to stop it or break through it, Data, Virus, or Vaccine."

Despite himself, Ross's interest was now piqued. "Why would they make a city that they can't enter or exit? Seems like they'd starve in the middle of the mountains."

BlackAgumon growled again, but his tone made clear that he was not angry with the humans. "And that's the crux of the matter. There are a scant few secret passages beneath the mountains that provide access to and from the City, and one of them has an entrance in this region. The Virus army knows the entrance is here, and if Angemon's army can't keep them out they will eventually find it and invade. And frankly, I wouldn't mind if one day we did."

Joanie looked at BlackAgumon intently. "But there's something about the Virus army that you can't tolerate; something bad enough that you'd rather they lose."

BlackAgumon sighed, turned around, and began walking again. "That sums it up. And do _not_ ask me what that something is. I'm not in the mood."

* * *

The rest of the day was something of a blur in Ross's mind. The fog rarely let up, and what they could see was all similar. Other than a brief stop mid-day for lunch, which consisted of half a loaf of bread each, there was nothing but walking until it began to get dark. It was at the crest of some hill when Ross noticed the edge of the forest in what little daylight remained. Apparently they had veered southwest. Just when he was about to ask whether this was by design, BlackAgumon uttered the first words following several hours of silence. "We're going to rest for the night in the woods, where we're less exposed. There's a hidden cache of Vaccine supplies around here, and you're going to help me find it."

Jacob wiped some sweat from his brow and asked, "What's it look like?"

"Can't say for sure. It'll probably be covered by boards and hidden with leaves."

When they reached the woods, it was slow searching. It would have been difficult enough had the sun been out, but there was so little light that upon looking around his tenth tree Ross figured the effort was futile. On top of that, they had been walking all day and he was worn out. He finished kicking aside some leaves, which of course were covering roots rather than boards, and looked over his shoulder to see if BlackAgumon was nearby. As luck would have it, he caught BlackAgumon's bright eyes between two trees. He called over to him. "Are you sure we need to find this thing tonight? I'm pretty sure we packed enough food."

BlackAgumon opened his mouth, and acquired some extra light by breathing heavily. Finding nothing, he answered Ross. "I'd feel better if we found it tonight. There should be some weapons in it, and I don't trust any of you to keep watch with nothing but your bare hands."

Ross was about to mention the sheath knife that he kept with him when Jacob called over from somewhere out of sight. "Hey, there's a river over here! I bet it's close by!"

Ross heard BlackAgumon's heavy footfalls moving in the direction of Jacob's voice. "Good thinking. You two, get over here."

Ross kept his eyes on the ground as he made his way to the river, and even then he nearly tripped over a few roots. He could hear the soft sound of the 'river'—more of a creek, he guessed—before he could see it. Figuring they weren't going to find the cache anyway, he decided to indulge himself and draw a handful of cold water before he resumed his search. He headed to the nearest tree and checked around its roots. Nothing.

Ross was thinking to himself that if the cache happened to be on the other side of the creek they might be out of luck when he heard a noise fairly close by. Something was rustling in the underbrush, and it wasn't a person. Ross's first thought was that it might be another one of the creatures he had to fend off on their first night in this place. He bit his lip and grabbed the hilt of his knife.

Just then, Joanie spoke loudly, and as she spoke Ross could hear the little thing scamper off deeper into the woods. "Hey! I think I found something!"

Ross sighed with relief, and made his way over to where the others had gathered around. As he reached them BlackAgumon was moving the last board aside, which would have made the contents of the hole in the ground completely visible had there been enough light to make it all out. Jacob moved his head in closer. "What's down there?"

BlackAgumon groaned. "If you worthless humans can't even see in the dark you should have said something earlier." BlackAgumon then picked up a thick branch, set it alight, and handed it to Jacob. As BlackAgumon went looking for suitable branches for Joanie and Ross, the three humans inspected the cache. There were several baskets of grains, some hammers and nails, what looked like a saw, and a number of weapons. Jacob knelt down and grabbed a longsword which was housed in a dark red scabbard. He held his light close to it and stared intently at the inscriptions that ran up and down.

Ross wondered who the weapon was for. He couldn't think of anyone they had met here so far who had the opposable thumbs to make good use of it. "Strange weapon for an army of talking wolves and small dinosaurs."

"Quit spouting nonsense and take this torch."

Then the obvious hit Ross: Angemon had thumbs, so it was reasonable to assume that plenty of other Vaccine did too. This mental blunder made him realize how tired he was from the hike. He yawned as BlackAgumon handed him the lit branch, and then he bent down and examined the remaining weapons: two spears and a bow and arrows. "What do you want, Joanie, spear or bow?"

Joanie was looking at her torch when Ross asked her this. Apparently something about the fire had her fascinated. "Is it a longbow or a recurve bow? I'm more used to recurve."

Ross had no idea what a recurve bow was, and didn't see how Joanie could expect him to. "Showoff."

Joanie giggled. Ross thought it was way too late after way too long of a day to be joking, but he shrugged it off. He handed Joanie the bow—"Thanks. Ah, it is recurve; that's good."—and then its quiver. This left either of the spears for himself. He picked the one that looked slightly shorter, thinking that it would be more wieldy. It turned out to be just a bit longer than he was tall, which felt right to him.

Jacob was sitting with his back to a tree, and had unsheathed his sword to inspect the blade. "So what now?"

BlackAgumon sat down as well. "Now we eat half a loaf each, figure out the order for keeping watch, and then sleep until an hour before dawn."

As she was unraveling her pack, Joanie asked a question with voice suddenly void of mirth. "You don't suppose that we'll have to use these weapons, do you?"

"I sure hope not. I don't trust you weaklings to hold off any real threat. But, since you miraculously have good hands for tools, I'm hoping that the weapons scare off anyone who might want to attack us."

Jacob re-sheathed his sword and turned his attention to the bread in his pack. He was about to take a bite when he stopped and said, "That reminds me. Hey Ross, why were you carrying that knife around the day we showed up here?"

"That's none of your goddamn business." There was acid in Ross's voice, and he thought he had good reason for it. Jacob was not one to judge him for having a knife. Ross noticed how quickly Jacob went for that sword, and how he was the first to agree to Angemon's plan to make spies out of them. The knife was none of his business. Not in the slightest.

For the rest of that night, no one asked Ross any more questions. He ate dinner in silence, nodded in agreement when BlackAgumon announced the order of the watch, and sat in stillness with the spear on his lap when the others lay down to sleep. There was light from the torch to keep him awake, but he wouldn't need it to see what he was looking for. In the underbrush was sure to appear a pair of red eyes. Ross could see it before it happened: his iron pole and point against reckless madness and teeth. He tried not to blink as he watched for any glow and listened for any movement.

They never came. The next thing he knew the sun was almost up and he was walking up a hill with his companions again. Someone must have replaced him and he had gone to sleep, but he couldn't remember it. He was still tired, but he was good enough for another hike.

As of that morning the four spies were closer to harm than to safety, and throughout the day the hills grew small and the grass grew brown and sparse.

* * *

The sun had disappeared beneath the horizon in front of them, and in the distance they could spot smoke from campfires. The absence of hills and fog put Ross somewhat ill at ease. If perchance they had to leave the Virus encampment in a hurry, they would be easy to spot on this brown plain. When BlackAgumon spoke to them for the first time since noon, Ross could hear his own worry in their guide's voice.

"Listen closely. What we're going to do is sit at one of the outer campfires, join in on some conversation, and listen carefully for any meaningful information about their plan of attack and numbers. You will let _me_ do the talking. You will speak only when spoken to, and when you do speak you will be vague and noncommittal. Is that understood?"

"Yes," said all three humans, and Jacob followed with a question. "What should we say if they ask our names? Name. Whichever."

"Be honest. We want to keep this simple, and that means no pretending that you're one of us. They're going to know that you're strange from the moment they set eyes on you without sensing an attribute, so our hands are tied in that regard. Our story is that I'm scouting the western half of the woods, and I found you in there two nights ago and recruited you in exchange for my help and protection."

"That works."

"One more thing. We want to leave tomorrow morning at least an hour before they wake up, so that means we leave in silence. Don't unravel your packs when we get there. Use the bundle as a pillow so we can leave without packing. I trust you can sleep on the bare ground just fine?"

Ross rubbed his eyes. "Not sure the blankets would help much."

BlackAgumon could tell what he was thinking. "That reminds me. Do _not_ show fear. That would be a dead giveaway."

Ross could see that Joanie was holding her bow very tight. "No promises there, but we'll do our best." Joanie then looked over her shoulder, back to the east. Ross supposed she was thinking about Michael, Tatiana, and the other kids. Was she just scared that the three of them wouldn't be there for the young ones anymore? Ross couldn't understand how that could be her top priority, yet that's what it felt like. For his part, all he could worry about was the prospect of the Virus soldiers finding them out and tearing them apart or setting them on fire.

He shivered and tried to drive the thought from his mind. As they drew closer and closer to the smoke in the distance, he attempted to distract himself with thoughts of rest and sleep. When the furthest fire from the main camp finally came into view, however, he turned his concentration to following BlackAgumon's instructions to the letter.

The sky was almost black when they felt the warmth of the campfire, and saw the three Virus soldiers sitting on the opposite side of it. They were gray, mammalian, four-legged things whose main features seemed to be a cross between those of a rabbit and a cat. They were roughly the same size as BlackAgumon, and like BlackAgumon they sported long, sharp claws on all four legs. One of them, who had a claw with a missing tip, grinned when he saw them come and spoke first.

"Lookie here, it's a BlackAgumon. Don't see too many of you around anymore."

BlackAgumon replied in stoic fashion before sitting down. "Evening, Gazimon."

The other two Gazimon grinned along with the first. "Evening, BlackAgumon."

The three humans sat together near BlackAgumon, and tried not to stare at their hosts. They were somewhat surprised when they were asked by Missing Tip, "What about you? What's your names?"

His grammar was unimpressive, but his word choice was revealing. Unlike Agumon and Garurumon, Missing Tip didn't get the impression that they all had the same name. As Ross wondered about the significance behind this, his companions started answering.

"I'm Jacob."

"Joanie."

Their voices were neutral. Ross figured they were doing an okay job so far. "Ross."

The Gazimon to Missing Tip's right snickered at the unusual names, and Missing Tip snarled at him in return. The one to the right snarled right back, but they were interrupted by a noise that none of the humans had expected to hear again. It was a low and droning, yet powerful and angry roar that shook the very ground they sat on. Ross swallowed and resisted the urge to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He glanced over at Jacob and Joanie and saw that they too were fighting back the instinct to squirm. This was the same noise that had made the young ones scatter on their first night in the woods.

The Gazimon to Missing Tip's left spat. "I can't believe we got to bring them slow-mutes with us. They're so damn annoying."

In the distance, Ross could vaguely see a dark, towering form that was nearly invisible against the sky. Missing Tip pointed one of his good claws at the complainer and said, "Watch it. They're the only Adult levels we have. How'd you like me to go and tell our friends the DarkTyrannomon what you have to say about them?"

The left Gazimon cringed, but the right one was not intimidated. "Go ahead. I bet they don't get no language, the no-words-ers."

"That ain't a smart bet. If you're wrong you get squashed flat."

"He too slow! I scurry up his back and claw his eyes out first!"

The right and left Gazimon broke into fits of laughter, and this seemed to give BlackAgumon the opening he was looking for. He asked Missing Tip, "I take it these two haven't been Child level for very long?"

This stopped the laughter cold, and Missing Tip grinned. "You got that right. Not me, though. I've been around long enough to cut down more than my fair share of scumbag vacc's."

Missing Tip showed off his missing tip, and BlackAgumon nodded in approval. "You rookies itching for your first kill?"

The one on the left was indignant, but the one on the right was positively enthusiastic. "Heh heh, yeah. Just two more weeks, and I gonna kill my way to that Garurumon and claw his eyes out!"

Missing Tip rolled his eyes. "Switch up your language, you dolt."

"Don't see why we got to wait two whole weeks," said the Gazimon to the left. "We ought to move out now and kill them quick."

Missing Tip grinned again. Ross was beginning to dislike that grin. "Relax. There's no rush, and besides—" Missing Tip paused, and looked right at the humans, especially at Ross. "—If your friend says we wait two weeks, we wait two weeks."

It took a mighty effort for Ross to keep his confusion from taking over his expression. As his brain stumbled over possible ways to respond to this, the right Gazimon bought him some time. "I dunno. These ones don't seem much like the Commander to me."

"You ain't ever even seen him before, rookie."

"Maybe I ain't, but they say he real strong, and I bet when we see him in two weeks he gonna look real strong. These ones don't look real strong to me."

Missing Tip then addressed the humans directly. "I'm right, ain't I? You're all humans from the Creators, just like the Commander!"

Jacob's voice was mostly calm, but wavered just enough to put Ross on edge. "That's right."

The left Gazimon asked them, "You all as strong as the Commander? You got his powers?"

For once, Ross felt that his curt dismissiveness was a welcome asset to Jacob and Joanie. "Can't say. We haven't met."

BlackAgumon then took over. "I'm afraid not all humans are quite as powerful as the Commander. Nevertheless, none of them are without use. These three make for fine scouts, and they're good with tools and weapons as well. The humans may be the greatest gift the Creators have ever bestowed on the Virus."

Once again, Missing Tip showed off his grin, and Ross swore that grin looked more sinister every time he saw it. "All sounds good to me. And from what I hear about the Commander, we're only going to need one of him anyway!"

The three Gazimon howled with laughter, and the three humans put on the best smiles they could muster. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Ross didn't know how it happened, but he had at least eight hours of sleep behind him when BlackAgumon prodded him in the ribs. It was completely dark, except for a few stray embers in the campfire. Missing Tip and the two rookies were snoring, and Joanie and Jacob were sitting up. In a matter of seconds they had their packs on their backs, weapons in hand, and were walking across the plain to the east.

It was another hour until the sun started to creep up, and there was still no fog. For a while Ross wished that the weather would change before it got much brighter, but then he realized that by now they were far enough from the camp to be reasonably safe. Still, the Gazimon's talk of this 'Commander' had him worried. That another human was present in this world was a surprise, but that the other human was some sort of powerful figure who was leading the enemy of their hosts was too disturbing. For once, he found that he couldn't keep his mouth closed while they were walking.

"BlackAgumon. Did you know anything about this 'Commander' they went on about?"

"No. I had never even heard of humans before you all showed up."

Jacob joined in. "I wonder if he's some kind of military genius, or maybe a super soldier. Hell, the way they talked about him he might have been some giant or wizard."

"You're not helping," said Ross and BlackAgumon together.

Joanie spoke next. "Whoever he is, I just hope he stays far away. I don't like the sound of him at all."

BlackAgumon said, "You can forget about him staying far away, that's for certain. The Gazimon said they would see him in two weeks, which means he's playing no small part in their campaign to invade the City. You can bet that we'll all be well too familiar with him before long."

In his head, Ross remarked that perhaps they should abandon the Vaccine camp before they had the chance to learn anything else about the Commander.

"At any rate, I should say that I'm pleasantly surprised with how you three handled yourselves back there. Not only are we safely on our way, but this news concerning the time of their attack and of their human leader will be invaluable to Angemon. There were plenty of opportunities for you to land us in hot water, but you avoided them all. I'm content."

Even as he said all this praise and good news, Ross found him somber. He supposed that it must still pain BlackAgumon to aid his former enemies. This made him wonder what prompted the betrayal in the first place. If Joanie and Jacob were also thinking of this, they gave no sign of it.

"Thanks, BlackAgumon," said Joanie. "If you hadn't led us on this trip, we'd have been in a real spot."

"She's right; we owe you one," said Jacob.

BlackAgumon simply sighed. And so they walked on in silence, until a few hours later the plains gradually turned into hills, and they could see fog not too far off. It was around here that Ross noticed that BlackAgumon was acting strange. His ears kept twitching in a way he hadn't noticed before, and he would frequently squint.

They were walking down a slope when BlackAgumon spoke again in a heated whisper. "Listen. No talking. Keep walking."

The humans, confused as they were, did as he said. "Pay close attention. The Gazimon from last night are fifty yards behind us." Ross's blood froze. They _had_ done something wrong. "They must have seen through us somehow. If I know Gazimon, and they're not hard to figure out, they're going to call out to us and pretend they just want to talk. Then, when they come into view and we're expecting friends, they jump us. We're going to play along, and you three are going to have your weapons ready. Is that clear?"

All three humans whispered "Yes," and they followed BlackAgumon's lead. After a minute that felt like an hour they were moving along the bottom of an unusually steep hill that was lined with boulders. It was there that they finally heard the Gazimon call at them from behind.

"BlackAgumon! Is that you over there?"

BlackAgumon stopped in his tracks and made a quick gesture across his neck; he would handle the talking. "Yes it is! What's the matter?"

"You missed some orders from the top this morning! Could you hold up for a minute?"

"Of course! We were just about to stop for a meal anyway!"

BlackAgumon motioned to the humans, and they all dropped their packs. They then crept until they were only ten yards away from the bend around which the Gazimon were to come. Joanie pulled an arrow from her quiver and put it in place. Jacob removed his sword from its scabbard with care and in silence. Ross held his iron spear in both hands and pointed it forward. BlackAgumon took a firm stance and raised his head as smoke wafted from his nostrils. They all heard slow footsteps approaching the bend.

It happened in mere moments. The footsteps sped up and the Gazimon ran into view with a cry for blood. They were met with a burst of white-hot flame that hit one of them square in the chest. He writhed on the ground, but the other two didn't stop. One of them ran at BlackAgumon and dove claws first, but BlackAgumon's claws were quicker, and they punctured the Gazimon's throat before pinning his body to the ground.

The other one charged the humans. Ross stood with his spear, but he couldn't get his limbs to move. Just when it appeared that the last Gazimon was going to jump for him, an arrow whistled past Ross and struck the ground in front of their foe. The Gazimon stumbled, and Ross felt some courage welling up within him as he ran to one side, hoping to have the enemy trapped.

Jacob took a few steps closer with sword leading. "Don't move!"

BlackAgumon was now finished with his own business, and as he stepped over his mouth seethed from his last shot. "Against the rocks. Now."

It was then that Ross noticed that one of this Gazimon's claws was missing a tip. That nasty grin was far away now, and in its place was a look halfway between fear for life and horrible rage. Missing Tip slowly backed up to the face of the boulder and glared at BlackAgumon.

"You followed us. Why? What gave us away? Speak!"

Missing Tip snarled, spat, and stamped the ground with his hind foot. "Don't insult me. You think I'm so dumb I can't smell fear?"

"No lies, rat! If you smelled fear you would have raised the alarm right then and there, or killed us in our sleep!"

"It's human fear. Smells different. Didn't recognize it at first, thought it might be something else. Humans supposed to be from the Creators, didn't know they had fear at all. Figured it out when you were gone at sunrise. Should have gotten it sooner, should have torn your throats out, should have drained your—"

"Enough!"

Missing Tip hissed and frothed at the mouth. The very sight of it made Ross a little sick. "Enough with you, you miserable traitor! When the Commander breaks Angemon's neck and we have won, we're going to find bottom-feeders like you and slit your wrists and leave you at the bottom of a pit!"

"I said _enough!_"

Missing Tip said nothing, though his whole body was twitching.

"You have two options, rat: you may die here with your comrades, or you may come with us to Angemon's camp with hands tied. Angemon is soft on the likes of you; if you tell him everything you know, he may let you leave with the rest of your claws clipped and nothing more!"

Missing Tip howled at the prospect, and clawed at his own face. And then something happened that sent a shock through Ross's entire body. Missing Tip's eyes shifted to a bright, solid red. He leapt straight for BlackAgumon, but he was stopped in midair by a spear point that pierced his left side and a sword point that pierced his right. Joanie screamed, and Missing Tip was thrust against the boulder.

"Look away," said BlackAgumon to the humans in a fit of kindness right before he torched Missing Tip's face. As Jacob and Ross let him down and pulled the tips of their weapons from him, they saw that his eyes were now empty and charred black.

"Grab your packs. We're moving on."

As Ross slung his bundle over his shoulder, he looked over at Joanie. She looked as if she were going to throw up, but she never did. Jacob didn't look sick, merely grave. Ross imagined that he himself appeared something between the two extremes. They walked away from that place as quickly as they could. Ross only looked back once, and saw that the three bodies were faint in the fog. It looked to him as if they were fading into nothingness, but surely that was his imagination.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: A Curious Stone, and the Power of the Commander**

It was late in the afternoon of the fourth day since they had first set out that the four spies once again found themselves at the foot of the camp's hill. All three of the humans were low in spirit, and BlackAgumon was as sullen as ever. As they climbed the hill and passed the spiked barrier, they could hear some kind of commotion at the top; a number of raised voices were competing with each other. Ross found it difficult to care. What he wanted to do more than anything was simply let BlackAgumon deliver their findings to Angemon and go off somewhere to lie down.

Despite his weariness, however, he knew that before he got any rest he needed to have a private conversation with Jacob and Joanie. Ever since the violent incident that had occurred two mornings ago, he knew that things had gotten completely out of hand. If things were ever to get back in hand, he and the other two teenagers would have to make the right decision without the influence of these mad Virus and Vaccine. He glanced over at Jacob and Joanie, and it was apparent that for once _he_ would have to work to get _them _to talk. He didn't relish the prospect.

Once they reached the top of the hill, Ross saw one thing that he had expected and another that he hadn't. The former was a crowd of several Agumon standing around Garurumon, and they appeared to be arguing about something. The latter was a large, winged horse that was lying near the edge of the slope. Its wings were black and somewhat tattered, its body was covered in scars, and the top of its head was covered by a red, steel mask that had a spike coming out of the forehead. BlackAgumon took one look at the creature and glared. "Unimon. There must be some news from the City."

Jacob said, "Let's ask him about it later. I'm bushed."

"Don't bother; you won't get an answer. He only delivers written messages."

Jacob paused to look at Unimon. "Is he one of those…I think they're called 'slow-mutes'?"

At the sound of that word Unimon raised his head and looked back at Jacob. Its eyes were hidden behind a narrow slit in the mask, so none of them could see what was surely an expression of disapproval. BlackAgumon motioned to Unimon with his arms and then spoke to Jacob as one would correct a toddler. "I forgot to mention earlier: you never want to use that term. It's horribly impolite. The proper thing is not to recognize the distinction."

Jacob was embarrassed and his face didn't hide it. This was enough for Unimon to lay his head back down and apparently forget about the matter. "And besides," said BlackAgumon, "I imagine we'll hear of the news soon enough, judging by that racket over there."

"Hey!"

The teenagers turned around and saw Tatiana running toward them. "You made it back!"

Though fatigued, Jacob smiled at her. "Just like we said we would. How's everyone doing?"

"We're all fine," said Tatiana. "I mean, we've been here the whole time. Why are you so worried?"

Had Joanie not been exhausted, she might have laughed. "Guess we should have known better. Sorry we ever doubted you."

It was then that Tatiana noticed the bow in Joanie's hand and the spear that Ross was leaning on. "Hey, where did you get those!"

"Never mind," said Ross. "What are they arguing about over there?"

Tatiana bit her lip and fidgeted with the goggles on her forehead. "I think the Agumon want some answers."

"Answers to what?" asked BlackAgumon.

"Well…Angemon left this morning and I don't know why."

"He _what?_"

The force in BlackAgumon's reaction startled Tatiana. A moment later they heard Garurumon speak in an immensely loud voice that silenced the Agumon. "That's enough! Back to your business, all of you!"

The argument was over, and the Agumon dispersed. Garurumon then began to walk in the direction of the crowd at the edge of the hill. As he moved he muttered some combination of curses beneath his breath. BlackAgumon waited until Garurumon was right in front of them before he asked, "What's all this about Angemon leaving?"

Garurumon closed his eyes and groaned. "I don't need this from you, too."

"I'm serious! When is he coming back?"

"I've no idea."

BlackAgumon hissed. "The Virus are attacking in less than two weeks! We need him back as soon as possible!"

Garurumon's eyes opened wide and he looked straight at BlackAgumon. "What? So soon?"

Tatiana was stunned. Jacob moved close to her and put his hand on her shoulder, which didn't seem to put her at ease.

"They have at least two DarkTyranomon, maybe three," said BlackAgumon. "Why isn't Angemon here?"

The usual command and strength in Garurumon's voice was diminishing. "I'll tell you what I told the troops, which is all I know. This morning Unimon came with a message for Angemon. Angemon didn't show it to me, and he didn't tell me what it said. All he told me was that he had urgent business in the Holy City, and that Unimon would stay here to keep our strength up while he was gone. That still makes two Adult levels for us, but three DarkTyranomon? This won't be easy."

"There's worse news, too. I'd rather divulge it in private."

The Commander. Not the least of the things that had been heavy on Ross's mind over the last two days.

Garurumon nodded to BlackAgumon. "We'll discuss it in the captain's tent." He then spoke to the teenagers. "You three can go rest now. I'll speak with you later."

"Got it," said Jacob. Once Garurumon and BlackAgumon had left, Jacob yawned and was walking off when Ross spoke up.

"We need to talk."

"Can it wait?" asked Joanie.

"No."

Jacob bit his lip. "Let's keep it short." He turned to face Ross and looked at him expectedly, but Ross was not yet satisfied.

"Tatiana, go to the others and tell them we're back."

Tatiana got the message, but she was clearly indignant about it. "Why?"

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Ross, it's fine."

"No it isn't. We need to talk alone, just the three of us."

"Why aren't I part of 'us'?"

Tatiana's insistence was getting to Ross's nerves. "Because we're bigger, got it?"

"You don't have to be nasty about it," said Joanie. Then she looked him straight in the eye. She made a subtle motion with her bow, tapping the bottom of her quiver. Ross understood her. The conversation was going to be in part about death, and none of the teenagers were sure they wanted to broach the subject with the young ones yet.

Jacob seemed to understand her meaning as well, and he found a way to resolve the matter without letting Tatiana in on anything. "Is this about that inflamed abscess on your backside, Ross?"

Ross wanted to punch Jacob in the face, but he knew a good gambit when he saw one. "Yeah. I think we need to take a look at it."

The indignity on Tatiana's face was now replaced with disgust. "You know what, I think I'll go."

Tatiana left, and Ross led Jacob and Joanie well out of the earshot of anyone in the camp. When they were standing next to the spiked barrier, Jacob said, "This had better be really important."

Since none of them had any desire for the conversation to last long, Ross got straight to the point. "We have to leave as soon as possible."

Much to Ross's crushing disappointment, both Jacob and Joanie responded to this by saying "What?"

"Ross, that's out of the question," said Joanie. "It's too dangerous out there, and we wouldn't know where to find food for all eleven of us."

"And besides," said Jacob, "the Virus are coming. It's not going to be safe away from the army."

'The army,' noticed Ross. Not 'the _Vaccine_ army,' but simply 'the army.' If Jacob already counted them all as being a part of the Vaccine, this was going to be difficult.

"That's exactly why we have to get away and lay low. You heard how worried Garurumon and BlackAgumon were; they're going to lose without Angemon and then we're in trouble. And besides: we're not Vaccine, this isn't our army, and this isn't our war."

Jacob's brow grew stern. "I don't think you have the right idea, Ross." He pointed off into the west. "There is something _very wrong_ about that army out there. For now it's our war because it's not going to be safe for anyone around here if they take over."

"You don't know tha—"

Jacob cut him off. "Did you notice that Gazimon's eyes?"

This gave Ross pause. "Yes."

"I thought so." Jacob's voice was quickly growing more forceful. "Three nights ago, when we were in the woods? You kept muttering 'red eyes' in your sleep. Those little red things you fought off on our first night here, were their eyes glowing red too?"

Ross glared. Bringing up sleep-talk was crossing a line.

"Hell, even BlackAgumon's eyes were getting pretty red that one time he got real mad, and he's on our side! The Virus are dangerous. If you don't think we're going to be in deep shit if we leave now, then you're nuts!"

Joanie covered her eyes with her hand. "Jacob, please."

This got Jacob's attention, and he took a few seconds to calm himself. When he spoke again his eyes were no longer angry. "I'm going to fight in this battle."

Joanie was shocked. "Jacob!"

Ross was shocked as well. He was now less angry at Jacob and more incredulous.

"I mean it. We have to keep the kids safe, and that's going to depend on Angemon's army driving the Virus back."

"You going to bet your life on that?" asked Ross.

"Yes, and you can't change my mind."

With that, Jacob turned around and walked back up the hill as Joanie and Ross simply watched him. When he was out of sight, Ross turned to Joanie.

"Do you agree with him?"

Joanie stared at the grass. "There's no way I can fight in this battle. But…I can't say that he's wrong. It's our responsibility to protect the kids, and I believe we're on the right side of the fight."

Ross shook his head. "I can't say I'm sure we're on the right side, or if there _is_ a right side. This Forbidden City of theirs rubs me the wrong way, and I'm not sure we can trust Angemon. The way he…talks to you is freaky, and looks can be deceiving."

Joanie sighed. "That's understandable. One question, though: do you trust Garurumon?"

She was playing for feelings, which Ross thought was disgustingly Christian, but he had to be honest. "Yeah, I do."

"In that case, I think we can accept for now that we're under his care."

Ross took a deep breath. "Seems like I've lost the argument anyway."

Joanie lowered her head, and Ross kept speaking. "Can you agree to one thing, though? That during the next two weeks we work out an escape plan in case the fighting goes badly? It can be just us and the kids if Jacob wants to fight to the bitter end. I just want to be sure we know where we can take the kids to hide in the event of disaster."

Joanie nodded. "That's a good idea, we'll do it."

Ross nodded back and they both began to walk up the hill, hoping to finally get some rest. "Just don't mention 'the bitter end' again," said Joanie. "I'm not sure I can take it."

Her voice wavered, and Ross felt that she was near tears. He looked down, and he saw that the bottom of his shirt was still stained red.

* * *

The first few days after Ross's return were uneventful, and there was a sickening anticipation and tension in the air. He and Jacob had avoided each other since the conversation, and they had not spoken since. Though Ross was conscious of this, it concerned him little, and he was more than content to occupy his mind with trivialities such as day-to-day duties around the camp and the weather.

It was three hours after noon on the tenth day until they expected the battle that Ross was leading several of the children back to the camp from the well a quarter of a mile away. Ross was carrying two buckets of water on the ends of his spear, which he held on his shoulders. For the remaining buckets it was two kids to a branch. He was half-listening to one of the girls—was it Rebecca?—as she described to him the game of highly improvised baseball that Tatiana had led them in last week.

"Jamie had a hackey sack, so we used that for the ball and sticks for bats."

"The field was really narrow and second base was uphill!" That was one of the boys, and for the life of him Ross could not remember his name.

"I got Michael out at first three times!" That was Steven, or at least Ross thought so. It could have been another one of them.

"Anyone hit a home run?" asked Ross, as he saw the bottom of the camp's hill come into view.

"Nope," said Rebecca, maybe. "No one could hit the ball far enough."

As they neared the barricade Biyomon appeared and perched herself on one of the spikes. "Thanks for covering for me, Ross."

"No problem."

"Okay kids, I need those buckets over by the mess tent! Oh, Ross, could you take yours over to Unimon? He drinks a ton!"

Biyomon hopped down and led the kids on their way. Ross veered to the left and made his way to where Unimon was lying. The winged horse had barely moved since he had arrived, which made Ross wonder if he was going to be worth all the food he ate. As Ross lifted the spear from his shoulders and set down the buckets, Unimon moved his head slightly in acknowledgement and resumed staring at the horizon or whatever he was doing.

Ross walked away from Unimon and further into the camp without a destination in mind. He happened to pass by a clearing where Jacob and Agumon—the Agumon they had first met, Ross guessed—were facing off from each other. In part because of curiosity and in part because he knew he couldn't stay out of Jacob's way indefinitely, he decided to watch.

Jacob was holding his sword in front of him, and Agumon had his arms raised and knees bent. In a swift motion Agumon dove for Jacob with a swing of his claws, and just as swiftly Jacob stepped to the side and avoided the attack. "You're starting to get the hang of it. The Gazimon just about always attack like this, so it's only any trouble if they gang up on you."

"Got it." Jacob was nearly out of breath, but the spirit in his voice was high.

"That's why you've got to work close with your platoon to split them up."

"Right."

"Think that's enough for today. I'm going to grab lunch."

Jacob returned his sword to its sheath. "I'll join you in a bit. Thanks a ton!"

"Hey, we need all the help we can get." Agumon said that, but both Ross and Jacob knew that there was some help that Agumon would much rather do without. They also knew that the less anyone said about the matter in any Agumon-oid's presence—black or orange—the better.

As Agumon trotted off toward the mess tent, Jacob turned around and approached Ross. "Hey Ross, got a sec?"

Ross had all day, and he figured a second of it spent talking to Jacob would be tolerable. "Sure."

"So, Joanie told me you and she are putting together an evacuation plan for the kids."

"Yeah. Biyomon tells us there are a number of homesteads a few miles east, where it's flatter. She said she'll help us get away if things go south."

Jacob nodded, and looked to the fog in the west. "That's all good. Nice you got it worked out."

"Yup." Ross figured that Jacob was hiding some of his thoughts on the matter. Undoubtedly Jacob was thinking that Ross was looking for an excuse to get away from the armies, and he wouldn't be wrong about that.

"And believe me, I think you've got the right idea on this one. Mind you, I think we can win, and that even if we have to retreat it'll still probably be safest with the army, but the worst case scenario is that the Virus have got something up their sleeve and we're toast. If that happens it's absolutely the right choice to find somewhere to lay low. I'm glad you're planning for the worst; you always need someone to do that."

That was Jacob, Ross supposed: always trying to spin discord as cooperation. After all, if Ross had had his way they'd already be long gone. "That's the idea."

"And hey, I know things got a bit out of hand when we came back, but us humans from America or the Creators or whatever got to stick together. We still good?"

"Of course." After all, if Ross didn't act 'good' enough with Jacob, then he'd be on worse terms with Joanie, and it would make things much more difficult when they found themselves alone with the kids following the defeat.

Jacob smiled. "Great. Catch you later, I'm starved." Jacob slapped Ross on the back and went on his way.

In that moment, Ross felt that BlackAgumon's earlier description of him and Jacob as 'snakes' was perfectly appropriate. He went on his way as well, and didn't get far before he heard Tatiana calling, "Hey Ross!"

'_I'm popular today,'_ thought Ross. "What's up?"

Tatiana ran up next to him. She looked excited about something. "You've got to come see what Joanie found!"

"What is it?"

"Just come on! You've got to see it! It's in the supply tent!"

Ross supposed he could let the knowledge be a surprise. "All right, I'm coming."

He made a point to walk at his own pace, and Tatiana slowed herself down to match him. When they were getting close to the long supply tent, Tatiana asked him a question in a much more subdued tone than she had used earlier. "So, uh…How's your…that thing on your butt?"

Ross was confused for a few moments, but then he remembered. "Oh, it's fine now. Nothing to worry about. Thanks for asking."

Tatiana nodded, and Ross again felt the desire to punch Jacob in the face. He tried to put it in the back of his mind as he parted the supply tent's flap and they walked in. Joanie and Michael were squatting on the ground some fifteen yards in, engrossed in conversation.

"I think," said Michael, "it's like you can't see it and then stop yourself, because then you wouldn't have seen it."

"Yeah, that's exactly right. Pretty wild, huh?"

Ross couldn't make heads or tails of the exchange. "What are you guys talking about?"

Joanie and Michael looked up. "Hey," said Joanie, "take these for a second."

Joanie stood up and showed Ross a small, shiny, black stone and a clump of iron. Ross was perplexed, and looked around at everyone's faces. They were eager about something, and Michael in particular looked like he was overtaken by wonder. Ross raised an eyebrow, trying to think of what was going on. Seeing as there was no better way to find out than to play along, he laid down his spear and took the rock and metal from Joanie.

"All right," said Ross. He took another look at the stone. Apart from its peculiar luster, he didn't see anything special about it. "Am I missing something here?"

Tatiana giggled, and Joanie smiled. "Okay," said Joanie, "take the stone and hit it against the iron, real hard."

'_Oh please,' _thought Ross._ 'They don't think I've ever seen flint before.'_ Unimpressed, but willing to humor them, Ross raised the stone over the iron. And then nothing happened. Ross did not bring his arm down, and the stone did not move.

Ross's lip began to tremble. He had brought his arm up with the intent of moving it again, and he still had that intent. And it wasn't as if his arm were paralyzed: he could move it back and forth just fine, and he even managed to bring the stone down slowly and softly to touch the iron, but that was it. He shook his head and brought his arm up again, but still he could not bring it down quickly so as to strike the iron. Or was it 'would' not? He didn't know, and that scared the living daylights out of him.

He looked up, and he could see that Joanie and Tatiana were stifling laughter.

"You have to really mean it," said Michael. "Don't think about anything except your arm. Tell yourself you're going to move it no matter _what_."

Ross had no idea how that would help, or why he even needed help for that matter. He took a deep breath and returned his attention to his arm. For a few seconds he just breathed, until finally his mind was absolutely made up.

And then it happened. As soon as Ross shut everything else out of his mind, a brilliant green flash and a hundred sparks erupted from the iron in his hand. Less than a second later, Ross brought his arm down and the stone made impact with a little noise and nothing more.

Ross stood still for several seconds. "Someone tell me what just happened."

Joanie was more than happy to oblige. "So, imagine that you had hit the iron, but the flash had happened just as you hit it."

Ross was still reeling, but he followed her. "Okay."

Michael followed up. "That's basically what happened, except the flash showed up early."

Ross looked at the rock, and then back at Joanie. "That's impossible."

Joanie grinned and shrugged. "That's what happened, though."

"Joanie said it's a PPTR," said Tatiana.

This was not helping Ross. "A what?"

"Paradox-Proof Time Rock," said Michael, who was also grinning.

"Think of it this way," said Joanie. "When the rock hits the iron, it sends out sparks." She closed a fist and opened it again to demonstrate. "But, instead of just sending the sparks out into space, it also sends them back in time." She then moved her hand sideways.

Ross was speechless.

"It fits. That flash came out from just where you were going to hit the iron a split-second later. The reason why you were having trouble going through with it is because what _is _impossible is for you to see the flash, and then stop yourself in surprise and not hit the iron, because then there wouldn't be any sparks in the first place!"

It did fit. Ross looked at the rock one more time, and he understood the logic that held the thing together in a temporal sense. He raised the stone again, and this time it took very little hesitation on his part for the sparks to fly and for him to strike the iron. He also noticed this time that the flash seemed to extend through his hand and out the back, though he felt no heat. He smiled a little, and a small laugh even forced its way from his lungs. "This is incredible."

"It gets better," said Tatiana. "Watch this!"

Tatiana took the stone from his hand and walked further into the tent. Joanie and Michael backed up closer to the walls and Ross followed suit. Tatiana stopped when she was a number of yards past the closest of the iron poles that held up the ceiling. Ross wondered for a moment what she was up to when suddenly she wound up and delivered. As the rock left her hand, an astoundingly large flash burst from the pole and moved in the direction that the rock was moving. The rock hit the pole with a clang, and the flash kept flying for a good twenty yards before fading. The sparks from the impact hung and danced in the air for several seconds before they too disappeared.

Ross's jaw hung open. As Tatiana retrieved the stone, Joanie spoke again. "It seems like the more force the rock has on impact, the more pronounced the effect is."

"No kidding. How did you find this thing?"

"Dumb luck. I was walking around and looking for some spare blankets when my foot slipped on it. I picked it up and was about to throw it, and I just _didn't_."

Ross was in awe. The awe, however, began to slip away when Joanie spoke again. And when Ross heard what she said, he began to think that she didn't truly believe that she had found the stone through 'dumb luck.'

"I think we can make something to help Jacob with this."

Here Ross had been so happy to see something so fantastic, and now she had to remind him that the battle was approaching. "How so?"

Joanie took the stone back from Tatiana and examined it closely. "Garurumon said a while ago that one of their big problems is that it's hard to make an organized retreat when everyone's so spread out."

Ross's first thought was to make something that would surprise the enemy, but this was a much different matter. "Go on."

"Judging by how far the flash went when Tatiana threw it, I'll bet that the distance the flash travels is closely tied to how far the rock would have traveled had there been no impact. I think if I could break down and reshape this rock—and it seems brittle enough for that—I could get it to fit on a crossbow bolt."

"You want to make a signal flare."

"That's right. All the crossbow would need is a piece of metal fixed to the front end for the rock to hit."

Ross thought about it for a moment. "That makes some sense. There could be someone keeping watch in a high place where they can see the whole battle. And if things get really bad, they start firing signals for retreat."

Joanie nodded, and then made some indentations in the short grass with her finger. "Ideally the watchers would be somewhere to the side of the fighting."

Michael asked, "So the soldiers don't have to turn around to see the signal?"

"Exactly."

Ross thought about this a little more. "Depending on how close the battle is to the camp, and how bright the flash is, everyone here might be able to see it too."

"That would be perfect," said Joanie. "Oh, but there is the fog to consider, though."

Ross had forgotten about the fog. That could indeed through a wrench into the whole thing. "We'll test it out. This is too good an opportunity to ignore."

"Of course. We ought to go talk to Garurumon about it now."

"Agreed."

Joanie and Ross stood up to leave, and Michael handed Ross his spear. "Thanks. We do have crossbows, right?"

"There are some in the back," said Tatiana.

The four left the tent, and went looking for Garurumon. As they looked for him, Ross contemplated his responsibility to keep the little ones out of harm's way. This was perhaps just the opportunity he needed to make sure they could escape from this impending disaster, despite all of Jacob's reckless efforts to the contrary.

The days were passing quickly, and the outlook throughout the camp was not growing more optimistic.

* * *

The sun was dropping in the western sky, and it lit the surrounding clouds on fire. For the third time that week the hills were mostly free of fog, but overhead it was dark and promised rain. It had been one week and six days since Ross had sat around the Gazimon's campfire, and Biyomon had just returned from her scouting mission with the news that the Virus army was moving east, and would reach the camp in four hours at their current pace. It was time to march out to meet them.

Ross was squatting next to BlackAgumon, double-checking that he had everything. He had his spear, a modified crossbow, a number of ordinary bolts, and one bolt made of the unusual stone. He was ready. He slung the crossbow over his shoulder, took his spear in hand, and stood up. It was then that Joanie approached him from behind, and BlackAgumon frowned. "No goodbyes this time. We have to get to the Bluff before the fighting starts."

Joanie understood. "Then I'll walk with you for a while."

BlackAgumon nodded and then began to lead the way out of the camp. On their way down the hill they passed Jacob and a group of six Agumon. The Agumon all looked away, BlackAgumon kept his eyes forward, and Jacob waved to Ross and Joanie. "See you later, Ross!"

"Good luck out there." Ross was by no means over his anger at Jacob, but he did mean it when he said that.

"And be careful," said Joanie.

"Don't worry about me! Just watch out for the kids!"

And that was the last Ross heard from Jacob before they passed the spiked barricade. He now let out some of his frustration. "What a nutcase."

"Don't say that about him," said Joanie.

"All right." It pained Ross how thoroughly Joanie defended that snake. All three of them were silent for some time.

"Not that I don't love the company," said BlackAgumon eventually, "but didn't you come along just to say goodbye?"

Joanie sighed. "I really appreciate you doing this, BlackAgumon."

"Think nothing of it. It wouldn't make sense to have a Vaccine do the job; they'd stick out like a sore thumb."

"I think she means you doing the job in addition to me."

"Ah. But what, would you do it alone? That's a laugh. You wouldn't even be able to find the place."

Ross would have felt that he was being babysat, but his adept capabilities at carrying things and using thumbs made him invaluable for this mission. "Fair enough."

"By the way, it's a great use you all found for those little rocks. I had always wondered why Angemon insisted on keeping them."

"How long have you known about them?" asked Joanie.

"Everyone's always known about them. We didn't think they were anything more than an oddity to provide light amusement for the simple."

It should have been funny, but nobody laughed. They reached the crest of a hill and could see the mountain range to the northwest, toward which they were veering. Ross was starting to get worried that Joanie wasn't going to leave them, so he moved things along. "Keep a close eye out for the signal. You and the kids need to head for a homestead as soon as you see it."

"We'll be okay. We've got Biyomon to help us. The kids love her, and they'd follow her anywhere."

"The same goes for you."

"Isn't this all touching," said BlackAgumon.

Joanie ignored him. "Be careful. The enemy's bound to see that signal too."

"We know," said BlackAgumon. "We won't be sticking around once it's over."

Joanie began to slow a bit, and Ross understood her. "Bye then."

Joanie reached out and touched his shoulder. "God bless," she said before she turned around and headed back to the camp where the children were waiting.

Ross shook his head. Even his obvious aversion to all things God couldn't discourage her from telling him 'good luck' in the most sincere way she knew how.

Now that Joanie was gone, BlackAgumon hastened his pace to the point where it got tricky for Ross to keep up. For the next hour they walked up some hills and around some others, and as they went the hills grew steeper and taller. Eventually they reached a rocky path that changed their course from northwest to simple west. Ross looked to his left and was amazed at how far he could see. The vast forest was visible far in the distance, and he could even make out the tents on the large plateau behind them. He also made out some movement in the hills: several groups of small orange figures. He was trying to spot Garurumon when BlackAgumon spoke to him. "Look there."

He faced forward, and saw that BlackAgumon was pointing west and a little south. At the very edge of the hills at the horizon there were three black shadows spaced well apart. Ross swallowed, and he knew what he was looking at.

"I had a feeling it was three," said BlackAgumon.

It was twenty more minutes moving west until BlackAgumon turned south and away from the path. They climbed a gentle slope until they reached the top and found themselves at the edge of a steep cliff. "This is Seraphimon's Bluff," said BlackAgumon. "I think it's pretty self-explanatory."

As Ross looked around he could see that BlackAgumon was right. The hills before him and the army walking through them were now far clearer, even though the sun was getting very low. When Ross focused, he found that he could even discern an Agumon's eye. He scanned the entirety of Angemon's forces, finding Jacob's unit at the southern edge, Garurumon a few hills north of there, and lastly Unimon at the northern edge, closest to where he was standing.

"You might as well sit," said BlackAgumon. "We're going to be here a while."

Ross sat next to BlackAgumon and laid down his spear and the crossbow. And then with heart heavy he looked to his right and saw the three towering monsters. They easily dwarfed Garurumon and Unimon in size, and the twin claws on their arms gave Ross a chill. In front of them were many bands of Gazimon darting from hill to hill. Ross counted perhaps twice as many of them as he counted Agumon. As one of the DarkTyrannomon let loose a roar that just barely reached his ears, Ross asked, "How long do you think until the fighting starts?"

"Less than a quarter of an hour. The DarkTyrannomon are terribly sensitive when it comes to detecting attributes, so they should begin a ranged attack shortly. They aren't terribly accurate, but it will force the Vaccine to engage the Gazimon more directly than they'd like."

"What's the Vaccine's strategy?"

"The Adult levels—Garurumon and Unimon—will try to break through or get around the grunts and take down the DarkTyrannomon one-on-one. The others and your friend Jacob will try as best they can to trap the units of Gazimon and split them up. If there were only two DarkTyrannomon and only two-thirds as many Gazimon, this battle would be no problem for the Vaccine. Or, for that matter, if Angemon were here."

Ross glanced at BlackAgumon, who was fuming. "It's so typical," said BlackAgumon. "I stick my neck out to get that deceitful coward everything he needs to know, and he leaves before I can get it to him."

It was then that Ross felt a few raindrops. He looked again at the Virus army, and this time he looked at the feet of the center DarkTyrannomon. Walking just one hill in front of those feet was a figure he had not seen before. It was a young man, clad in gray clothes and a black cape. At his side Ross could just make out what appeared to be a black scabbard for a longsword.

"And what about the Commander?" asked Ross. "What are they planning to do about him?"

BlackAgumon looked where Ross was looking, and shivered. "For the time being, they're going to ignore him. They're hoping that he has no real powers or strength—like you and your friends—and that the Virus are just using him as a tool of propaganda for the grunts."

Ross looked as hard as he could at the Commander. His face seemed to be obscured by scars and bandages. "And what if he's no fake? What are they going to do then?"

"They'll play it by ear."

It didn't strike Ross as a great plan. He kept staring at the Commander, and the longer he stared the worse he felt about him. After a number of minutes, the Commander stopped in his tracks, and the DarkTyrannomon followed suit. The rain picked up, and the Commander reached for the sword at his side. He drew it and swung it in the direction of Angemon's army as his cape billowed in the wind. Immediately the DarkTyrannomon reared their heads, and then launched massive balls of fire from their mouths. The shots soared over the Vaccine forces and made impact several hills back, leaving three smoldering craters.

And so began the battle. Once the shots were fired, Angemon's army began to advance. "You'd better load that crossbow now," said BlackAgumon. "We don't know how long this will last."

Ross reached into his pocket and brought out the special bolt. He only stopped to look at how it shone for a moment before he placed it in front of the bowstring. It took all of his strength to pull the string back to the catch; the flash was certainly going to fly high. He kept the crossbow in his lap, and continued to watch.

The Vaccine's strongest wing seemed to be to the south. There Garurumon was jogging ahead of three units of Agumon, one of which contained Jacob. When they got close enough, Garurumon sped into a sprint and bounded clear from one hill to another right over the heads of a mass of Gazimon. The Gazimon turned around in the hopes of flanking him, but they were shortly flanked themselves by a barrage of small fireballs from the Agumon.

Meanwhile, Garurumon ran on and confronted the south-most DarkTyrannomon. Ross could see that the dinosaur's teeth were smoking and shaking, which he interpreted to mean that for a short time a fire attack was out of the question. This left the twin claws, and though they were swung with tremendous force, they were not quick enough to strike Garurumon. Ross saw a brilliant streak of dancing blue flame shoot forth from the wolf's mouth, and it scarred the DarkTyrannomon's face.

On the north wing, Unimon appeared to be doing just as well as Garurumon. He had flown over the Gazimon with ease, and was now harassing the north-most DarkTyrannomon with a series of white energy blasts.

"It looks like they're doing fine," said Ross.

"It does look that way, doesn't it?"

It was then that Ross remembered the Commander, and scanned the battlefield for him. He found him in front of the center DarkTyrannomon, who was raising his head to prepare for another shot. The Commander was half squatting and half kneeling. He held his right hand to his chest, and was facing the ground.

"What is he doing?" muttered Ross to himself as he wiped the rain from his arms.

The battle raged on, and Ross looked mostly at the Commander. His eyes strayed only momentarily to see Jacob far in the distance dodging and then stabbing a Gazimon, and later to see Garurumon avoid a blast of fire and then jump at the DarkTyrannomon's throat, knocking it over. While all this went on the Commander did nothing, until finally he stood again.

In that moment the rain fell harder still, and a sound of rolling thunder came from miles away. The Commander raised his right arm to the heavens, and Ross could feel something in the air that set his hair on end. BlackAgumon felt it too. "Something's happening."

A mighty gale swept eastward over the hills and battered Ross's face. The wind grew stronger and stronger, until at last it happened. A towering bolt of white lightning burst from the heavens and struck the Commander's welcoming hand. The Commander took this in passing, and held his ground with no effort at all. He then kept his hand in the air as he turned around and aimed his palm at the center DarkTyrannomon.

The DarkTyrannomon began to twitch, and bucked his head back and forth. Its body began to spark with little flashes of electricity, and the flashes grew quicker and brighter until the entire creature acted as a strobe light. And then before Ross's very eyes the monster appeared to grow.

"No!" shouted BlackAgumon. "No! This can't be happening!"

All of the fighting had ceased as both armies gaped at the event. The body was approaching twice its previous size when the most terrifying screech Ross had ever heard burst forth from it. It was as if the DarkTyrannomon's ordinary cry had been amplified and accompanied by grinding gears and twisting steel, and it shook the very ground on which Ross sat.

"Fire the signal! Now!"

Ross did not hesitate. He raised the crossbow to the heavens, and in an instant erupted a green light that nearly blinded him. As the flash shot to the clouds for all those in the surrounding miles to see, he pulled the trigger. While thousands of sparks hung in the air over his head, Ross's sight returned to him and he could see that the center DarkTyrannomon had turned into a colossal, biomechanical dinosaur.

Unimon wasted no more time in flying away from his earlier foe and straight at the new monster. As the winged horse fired some shots that merely glanced off the thing's armor, BlackAgumon pressed his claws to his head and despaired. "He evolved him to Perfect level. This is a disaster. The whole region is lost. That damned MetalTyrannomon! That damned Commander!"

Irritated with Unimon, MetalTyrannomon raised his left arm and aimed his palm at him. Unimon folded his wings and dived just quickly enough to avoid the concentrated blast of energy that followed. The shot climbed into the sky and retained its shape even as it sailed over the mountains. When Ross saw how long the new monster's range was, a horrible thought occurred to him. "No."

Unimon got too close, and a swing of MetalTyrannomon's arm was enough to swat him out of the way. MetalTyrannomon then turned to the east, and aimed his arm well past Angemon's retreating army.

Ross rose to his feet and looked to the east as well. "Joanie!"

No one heard him besides BlackAgumon as a flash of blue sent a second shot clear over the hills and straight to the Vaccine camp. When Ross strained his eyes, he could see that the plateau had been completely smote, and that all of the tents were gone.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Utter Defeat, and Flight to the Mountains**

The rain and the wind began to let up. The Commander's forces would need no further assistance from the sky. Ross barely noticed; he was frozen in place as he stared at the hill where the Vaccine camp had stood. His mind was occupied with perceived numbers: how many seconds it should have taken for Joanie and the kids to scramble from the hill, and how many seconds there had been between his signal and the blast. As near as he could guess, it was thirty seconds between when he fired and when MetalTyrannomon fired, and depending on where Joanie had been and how quickly she had seen the flare, she could have been gone anywhere from twelve seconds to sixty. So they had roughly a two in five chance of being alive. Or one in five. Or one in a hundred. It made him sick.

Ross was jarred from this train of thought by BlackAgumon, who was now roused from his despair and spoke with urgency. "Pick up your things! We have to leave!"

Ross turned around. He saw the Virus forces marching forward, but apart from them there were three figures running northeast, right in his direction. They were the Commander and two Gazimon, and they moved with impossible speed. Behind them the dark clouds opened and revealed the sun, which had not quite set. Now that the cover of nightfall was delayed, Ross became aware of how exposed he and BlackAgumon were.

With head reeling, Ross slung the crossbow over his shoulder and grabbed his spear. BlackAgumon was already running north and down the slope. "Hurry!"

Ross took one last look over his shoulder and saw the Commander bounding from the crest of a hill that was too close. With that he turned and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, trying to catch up with BlackAgumon.

They ran for half a mile on the rocky path. Ross's heart was pounding, begging him to give up and stop, but he didn't want to be caught dead near the Commander after what had happened. BlackAgumon frequently had to slow down so Ross wouldn't fall too far behind. Squat as he was, BlackAgumon's legs were several times stronger than those of an ordinary teenager. Panting as he ran, Ross asked him, "Where are we running to? The camp's gone."

"We're going to turn north, into the mountains. If we're lucky we might lose them."

When they neared the crest of a tall hill Ross stumbled and scraped his knees. As he pulled himself back up he glanced over his shoulder. They were not going to be lucky, Ross could tell: the Commander and the Gazimon were only four hills behind them. As he and BlackAgumon left the path and ran up a draw in the mountains, they could hear the Gazimon laughing.

As they scrambled through a harsh ravine, Ross wondered if this mess was his fault. If he had only been thinking, they might have left as soon as he fired the signal, and then they may have gotten far enough away that the Gazimon wouldn't have been able to hone in on BlackAgumon's attribute. For that matter, if he weren't so slow and exhausted they might have gotten away regardless. After they cleared a boulder that was blocking their path, BlackAgumon said, "This is futile. We'll have to find some high ground soon and make a stand."

They ran on, and Ross asked between gasps, "What are our chances?"

BlackAgumon snarled. "We'll find out. Just move it, you slug!"

Ross's legs objected, but they obeyed as well as they could. BlackAgumon's pace quickened, and now it took all that Ross had to keep him within eyeshot. In the last of the daylight, BlackAgumon was hard to spot, and this could serve only to hurt Ross, not to conceal them from their pursuers. He could hear them jeering now.

"Keep running, scumbags! Make it easier for us! Ha!"

Those were the Gazimon, and though they were certainly threatening, they did not move Ross to any real fear. The fear came from the Commander, as for the first time Ross heard his voice. It came on a wind from his back that picked up suddenly: the darkest laugh he had ever heard. It was in one sense quiet, and barely reached the ear, and yet it pushed other sounds and even other senses out of the mind. It felt malicious to the point where it was nauseating, and after a few moments Ross nearly despaired and collapsed.

But then a roar came from in front of him, and the wind died down. "Keep moving!"

It was BlackAgumon, and it was enough for Ross to regain control of his muscles and push on. They ran a mere twenty yards further when BlackAgumon stopped and studied the rock wall in front of him. He muttered, "This is it," and began to climb. "Toss up your spear. This is where we'll hold them off."

Ross nodded. His heart was beating so hard that it hurt, but he wasn't about to give up and wait at the bottom for the Commander to catch up. He took a step back and threw his spear over the top of the wall, where it landed safely. He then clambered after BlackAgumon, and with some difficulty he reached the wide, deep shelf some fifteen feet above the bottom. After taking a moment to catch his breath he grabbed his spear again, and then he noticed the statues.

They were each twice the size of a grown man, and they stood at opposite ends of the stone platform. On the left was an angel with two wings—in contrast to Angemon's six. With its long right arm it pointed at and slightly above the other statue, which was a cowering, sickly, man-like figure squatting over a beast's carcass. Ross had no time to contemplate the statues, as BlackAgumon brought him back to the danger at hand. "Get the bow ready! This is our chance!"

Ross felt in his jacket pocket for the bolts and stumbled back to the edge of the wall. He unslung the crossbow and with great effort pulled the string back to the catch. He set the bolt, and looked down into the ravine. The Commander and the Gazimon were just visible some fifty yards away, vague figures of gray among the shadows. Ross lined up the Commander with the bow's two sights.

But the Commander would not stay in line. He would run, and Ross's hands could not stop shaking. On top of that, when Ross would get the rare two seconds when the shot was perfect, his finger on the trigger would go limp. He motioned with his lips, _'Not human. He's not human. It's not human,'_ but to no avail. His finger didn't believe him.

"What are you doing!" cried BlackAgumon. "Shoot him!"

Ross gritted his teeth, and swore at himself. Without knowing why, he turned his aim away from the Commander and picked out one of the Gazimon. He lined up the sights, pulled the trigger, and the bolt flew straight from the bow and into its target's forehead.

BlackAgumon was furious. "Damn it! What's the matter with you?"

The two pursuers were now twenty five yards away from the wall, which was too close for Ross to get another shot, but just close enough for BlackAgumon. He reared his head, and Ross backed out of the way. The sheer size and heat of the white blast took Ross by surprise as he watched it light up the ravine. It flew straight, and for a moment it seemed that their luck had changed. And then out of nowhere the fire veered to the right and engulfed the remaining Gazimon instead of its intended target. The Commander was utterly undaunted by his subordinate's dying scream and approached the final stretch.

BlackAgumon, with teeth steaming and shaking, said, "Grab your spear. Get ready."

Ross fumbled for his spear and staggered to his feet, but he wasn't ready. When he looked up, the Commander was hanging in midair with sword drawn. BlackAgumon managed to fire a small shot at him, but a wave of his left arm sent this flame wide as well. The Commander landed from his twenty-foot leap with ease, and a swing of his iron blade sent BlackAgumon jumping back.

From there things happened far too quickly. The Commander turned and dashed at Ross, who just barely raised his spear in time to block the sword. Amid the fury of swings and thrusts, Ross caught a glimpse of the Commander's face with its scars, bandages, and manic grin. Then Ross blinked once and the sword was too close for him to stop. He cried out when it slashed his arm, and then a swift punch to the gut knocked all the breath out of him. He staggered to the side of the mountain, fell over, and nearly blacked out.

Ross heard the sounds of a struggle, and when his eyes focused again he saw that the Commander had BlackAgumon pinned to a boulder by the neck with one hand, and was ready to stab with the other. When Ross tried to move a jolt of pain came from his abdomen that was too much to overcome. He had to listen to what happened next.

"It seems there's been a misunderstanding, little one—is it BlackAgumon? The last time I checked, you were supposed to be working for _me._"

It was the same despicable voice as that laugh. It made Ross wish that he had blacked out after all.

"If I'd known they were going to make us report to someone like you I would have left years earlier."

The Commander laughed. "You left? Whatever made you think you could truly leave? You are Virus, you are Child level, and that means you are mine. If you don't give me any more trouble, I might just stab you to death and leave it at that. Your comrades the Gazimon will hate me for punishing a traitor so lightly, but such is the price of being merciful!"

The Commander grinned all the wider at his own parody of self-sacrifice. BlackAgumon was unmoved. "I won't die in answer to a snake like you. You would make slaves of us all, you and that warped council that sent you here!"

The Commander's grin diminished, and his eyes grew harsher. "You have no say in the matter. I will command, and you will obey." With those last words, his voice lost its dark mirth and gained a darker anger. "Show me your true self."

A breeze sprung up out of nowhere. BlackAgumon's eyes began to flicker around the edges, and he jerked his head back and forth. "No! You can't make me!"

"What's the matter? You don't like the Gift of the Virus? Is that why you tried to flee to the service of the Forbidden City, _traitor?_"

BlackAgumon clawed at the stone behind him and let out a pained groan, trying to keep control. His eyes were growing cloudier when the breeze became a strong wind.

"_Show yourself!_"

BlackAgumon's body broke into spasms, and his eyes finally turned completely red and glowed bright. With this the Commander's grin returned, and he tossed BlackAgumon aside with a loud laugh. BlackAgumon sprung to his feet, and with a deafening roar he charged at the Commander.

Ross shut his eyes, but not before he saw what happened. The Commander thrust his sword straight into BlackAgumon's mouth and pierced his brain. Ross's head spun. He wanted to forget everything that had happened since he came to this miserable place.

The Commander pulled his sword out of BlackAgumon's head and stepped over to where Ross was lying. Ross found himself pulled up by the neck, which brought further and more intense pain from his gut. He opened his eyes and looked at his enemy, who seemed to be having the time of his life.

"What…are you?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm a human sent from the World of Creators to lead the Virus to victory over the Forbidden City."

Ross didn't believe him for a second. No person from his own world could ever have done what he had. No one could take the full force of a lightning bolt and use it to turn a giant dinosaur into an even larger, metal dinosaur. "You're not human. That's impossible."

The Commander scoffed at him. "You don't think so? I do hope I haven't gone too native; I've only been here for a year, after all."

"I don't believe you."

"Think about all the other 'impossible' things you've undoubtedly seen since you got here. Is one other human who knows a few humble parlor tricks really so farfetched?"

This was pointless, Ross thought. His side was crying out in pain, and more than anything else he wanted it all to be over.

"You talk too much, you sick bastard."

"Ha! You're absolutely right, of course. And for that matter, I suppose your time's about up, anyway. Nothing personal; it's just unfortunate that you happened to land on the wrong side of the war. Can't call you a traitor, so no ironic execution for you. I'll make this quick."

The Commander raised his sword, which was still caked in blood. He aimed the tip right between Ross's eyes, and held it in place for several seconds. At first Ross just stared at the blade, but when nothing happened his eyes strayed back to the Commander's face. There was something odd in his eyes, some momentary flash of apprehension. But then they were back to normal. "I'll be damned. The sword says it isn't your time yet, after all."

Ross got no chance to say anything to this. The Commander tossed him to the ground, and kicked him so that he rolled on his stomach. "Doesn't mean I can't enjoy this, though!"

With that the Commander swung his sword and carved a gash across Ross's chest. Ross cried out in agony, and the Commander simply laughed some more before he walked back to the rock wall and jumped down.

Though his entire body protested as he did so, Ross turned his head to catch one last look at BlackAgumon. At that moment the moon came out from behind a cloud, and Ross knew then that his eyes must be deceiving him. BlackAgumon was not only dead, but was fading from existence. Over the course of ninety agonizing seconds, Ross saw the body disappear entirely. All that was left was the pool of blood.

He looked back up to the sky. The pain did not subside. His eyes welled up with tears, and he could feel his own blood trickling down beneath his shirt. For a moment his thoughts went out to Joanie, and he was certain that she was dead, as were the kids, and Jacob, and Agumon, and probably even Garurumon. He was alone, and if he kept bleeding he was sure to die along with the others.

As his senses began shutting off, he was filled with one thought only, and that was revenge. He wanted desperately to chase after the Commander, to break his arms and knees and then tear his throat out. Even as he finally slipped into unconsciousness, he was still cursing the Commander with every word he knew for it.


End file.
